Once and for all - Is joint cracking (clicking fingers) harmful?

[Skyper 0]

Popping your knuckles or clicking your fingers is not as bad as you may think. The usual argument is that it causes arthritis but research shows this not to be the case. Like anything when done to excess, other types of damage may occur with such things as stretching of the surrounding ligaments and a decrease in grip strength.
The sound is produced in the joint when bubbles burst in the Synovial fluid surrounding the joint.
The gas itself is always there but dissolved in the thick clear Synovial fluid. When you pull the joint you decrease the pressure therefore reduce the amount of gas the liquid can hold. This is called cavitation and is the same thing as what causes the bends or bubbles to appear from nowhere when you open a bottle of pop; a decrease in pressure reduces the amount of gas the liquid can hold.
After a pop the gas should take half an hour to re-dissolve again so, until this happens, you will not be able to repeat the noise in that joint no matter how hard you try!

[IanHarrop 42]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracking_joints

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[jonstark 8]

Good or bad I tell my kids it's bad manners. I think it shows poor form to do it in close company.

jon

[oldwomanc6 60]

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Good or bad I tell my kids it's bad manners. I think it shows poor form to do it in close company.

jon

Good manners, or bad, all I know is that it's contagious, just like yawns. If someone around me does it, I want to as well.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[skymama 37]

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Good or bad I tell my kids it's bad manners. I think it shows poor form to do it in close company.

I crack my knuckles, but most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. It's more like a nervous habit, like chewing on one's fingernails (which I don't do).

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[JohnMitchell 16]

I have a rude coworker who hates the sound of it. I try to save it up for her.

[virgin-burner 1]

and there's a doctor that gets a nobel prize in medicine for cracking joints; i'll tell that to my mom since she always complained about me doing it..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Skyper 0]

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and there's a doctor that gets a nobel prize in medicine for cracking joints; i'll tell that to my mom since she always complained about me doing it..

If you keep doing it with only one hand you make even more chance for nobel price

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Absolutely not bad for you. I've been doing it for years and my knuckles are fine. Here, take a look.......
see attachment.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[Abedy 0]

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see attachment.

Uhmm... wasn't that the pic related to "Spanking isn't bad for your hand?" Sorry, could not resist.
(ducking...)

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[skyjumpenfool 2]

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Quote

see attachment.

Uhmm... wasn't that the pic related to "Spanking isn't bad for your hand?" Sorry, could not resist.
(ducking...)

No. You might be thinking of the "side affects of picking your nose" thread that got locked a few years back?

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[LongWayToFall 0]

I sure hope it isn't bad, otherwise I am screwed!

About not being able to pop twice in a row, I have a couple toes that I can pop non stop for as long as I like. I guess my bubbles dissolve abnormally quick in that particular joint... haha