Knuckle cracking?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I keep hearing that cracking your knuckles does all sorts of bad things, but I really wonder about it. Does it really damage your knuckles, or is it just a parent too annoyed by little popping noises?

[wolfson]

Look here.

http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/010599/fea_hecht.html

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Thanks!

Now I'll go and yell at my brother... I can hear him cracking them right now!

[Lance]

Thats the only site I have seen that says that. I just looked up a hundred other sites and not one had a negative.

[wolfson]

As far as I know that is a MD answeing questions, so i expext him to be correct.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Thats the only site I have seen that says that. I just looked up a hundred other sites and not one had a negative.

Are they doctors or are they just people making an excuse for themselves? You know how many myths go around the internet...

[Lance]

Ill find the sites later... The damn neighbors are stealing my cable connection right now so I can’t do much of anything. I need to get DSL.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

They're doing what?

Anyway, it's good to know that, it'll annoy people.

[iglak]

He (it's a he right? i didn't check...) makes it sound worse than it is.

according to two chiropractors that have visited my school for whatever reasons (the ONLY 2... for subbing and speaking) cracking knuckles a lot is bad, but doing it every once in a while (about 5 times a day or less) can actually be helpful, specifically for the reason that MD said it was bad (stretches ligaments and tendons beyond normal, makes them stretchier. doing it in excess makes them longer and less stretchy).

 

it seems like the MD was implying this, though he never "said" it.

[aommaster]

My science teacher also says a smimlar thing to what that site says. All the teachers do in my school. So do some of my friends. hmmm.... makes sense, and since everyone says so, including students my age, it looks true!

[YT2095]

the *POP* sound is displacement of the sinovial fluid (not sure of the spelling).

eitherway, doing it by accident its one thing, doing it deliberately and regualrly is another and just asking for trouble in later life!

that stuff`s there for a reason, and needless wear and tear on the bone cartillage is just downright foolhardy, and it impresses no-one!

[aommaster]

I acutally can't do it for my fingers. I used to do it a long time ago. If i try to, it pains a lot!

[YT2095]

wait until ya get to my age and as busted up as I`ve been over the years, it happens all the time, whether you want it to or not! )

[aommaster]

hmmm.... it does get pretty annoying at times. I hate it when my fingers crack because i bang my hand on the headboard of the bed while walking by!

[YT2095]

or a shoulder that disslocates when turning over in bed at night or a knee that will suddenly giveway without warning whislt walking, fingers you have to pull out of their sockets and put them back again because the joints that hold them in place have been broken so many times that I risk loosing my fingers if I break them again.... yeah, I know the feeling! and those are just daily probs

[aommaster]

aren't u worried about that? Scary!

 

By the way, isn't there something the doctors could do about it?

[iglak]

wait... are we talking about finger "popping" or finger "cracking"? they are different.

[aommaster]

wait... are we talking about finger "popping" or finger "cracking"? they are different.

 

could u please explain that further? I think i may havve gotten confused with that?

[iglak]

popping = pulling on a joint

possibly pulling it out of it's socket, i can't pop any of my joints.

cracking = bending a joint

i COULD say bending beyond normal, but that's not really what it is. bending beyond the point at which it cracks... that's the best description i can give

 

they create slightly different sounds, and cracking is common on all joints.

[aommaster]

hmmm... then i do the cracking of the joints. I can't beleive that someone can actually pop a joint!!!

[YT2095]

I can by accident daily and wish I couldn`t or it wouldn`t happen

and as I said in post #11 anyone that does that delliberately, is just asking for potential problems when they get older, I`m sure some will think they`re "immune" or that it won`t/can`t happen to them, but if you`ve never trusted a word I`ve ever typed in my posts, you can trust this!

of that you may be certain!

[aommaster]

well, i beleive u. And ur right about asking for danger. If you can live without it peacefully and happily, then why do it?

[Lance]

Its like an addiction. My neck and fingers become stiff untell I do It. Im not really sure HOW to stop...

[Dave]

Same here. I've gotten better though, but my thumb sometimes just refuses to move very much unless I move it in such a way as to crack it (I don't mean pulling it back or whatever, but if I twist it in a certain way, it cracks and becomes normal again).

[aommaster]

The best way is try to reduce the amount of doing it i.e. don't do it until it really needs to be done. Or, even better, just stop it completely even if it bothers u