I've heard a lot of people on both sides of the argument, is it bad to pop your neck/hands? My dad always tried to get me to stop popping my knuckles by telling me I would get arthritis or something when I get old. I just don't believe that though
According to this source (which I will put stock in due to the edu domain of the url):
'The noise of cracking or popping in our joints is actually nitrogen bubbles bursting in our synovial fluid. 'Cracking your knuckles does no harm at all to our joints. It does not lead to arthritis,' says Dr. Klapper.
According to Dr. Klapper, knuckle cracking itself does no harm to your fingers, neck, ankles, or other joints that pop and crack throughout the day—whether from normal day-to-day motions or compulsive habits like pressing our knuckles or twisting your neck until you hear that familiar crack.
However, if you experience discomfort while cracking, then there could be a pre-existing condition that is aggravated by twisting and pressing the joint.”
Apparently, the satisfaction we get from cracking them is purely psychological. There's no harm done, but if it does hurt, then it's likely there was already something wrong with your joints.
(i also love cracking my knuckles but purely for memey dramatic effect)
'The noise of cracking or popping in our joints is actually nitrogen bubbles bursting in our synovial fluid. 'Cracking your knuckles does no harm at all to our joints. It does not lead to arthritis,' says Dr. Klapper.
According to Dr. Klapper, knuckle cracking itself does no harm to your fingers, neck, ankles, or other joints that pop and crack throughout the day—whether from normal day-to-day motions or compulsive habits like pressing our knuckles or twisting your neck until you hear that familiar crack.
However, if you experience discomfort while cracking, then there could be a pre-existing condition that is aggravated by twisting and pressing the joint.”
Apparently, the satisfaction we get from cracking them is purely psychological. There's no harm done, but if it does hurt, then it's likely there was already something wrong with your joints.
(i also love cracking my knuckles but purely for memey dramatic effect)
quote peachcakes
Peachcakes wrote:
According to this source (which I will put stock in due to the edu domain of the url):
'The noise of cracking or popping in our joints is actually nitrogen bubbles bursting in our synovial fluid. 'Cracking your knuckles does no harm at all to our joints. It does not lead to arthritis,' says Dr. Klapper.
According to Dr. Klapper, knuckle cracking itself does no harm to your fingers, neck, ankles, or other joints that pop and crack throughout the day—whether from normal day-to-day motions or compulsive habits like pressing our knuckles or twisting your neck until you hear that familiar crack.
However, if you experience discomfort while cracking, then there could be a pre-existing condition that is aggravated by twisting and pressing the joint.”
Apparently, the satisfaction we get from cracking them is purely psychological. There's no harm done, but if it does hurt, then it's likely there was already something wrong with your joints.
(i also love cracking my knuckles but purely for memey dramatic effect)
'The noise of cracking or popping in our joints is actually nitrogen bubbles bursting in our synovial fluid. 'Cracking your knuckles does no harm at all to our joints. It does not lead to arthritis,' says Dr. Klapper.
According to Dr. Klapper, knuckle cracking itself does no harm to your fingers, neck, ankles, or other joints that pop and crack throughout the day—whether from normal day-to-day motions or compulsive habits like pressing our knuckles or twisting your neck until you hear that familiar crack.
However, if you experience discomfort while cracking, then there could be a pre-existing condition that is aggravated by twisting and pressing the joint.”
Apparently, the satisfaction we get from cracking them is purely psychological. There's no harm done, but if it does hurt, then it's likely there was already something wrong with your joints.
(i also love cracking my knuckles but purely for memey dramatic effect)
An enlightening and excellent view of knuckle cracking. I've never heard this research before but I feel a lot better about the constant body popping I endure on a daily basis now
Nah m'dude it's fine
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I do not intend to pretend as though I know as much as any medical staff from any field. I am only speaking on my personal experience and the knowledge provided to me by my own doctors.
Hi there!
I suffer from what is called "degenerated discs."
These discs are through my entire spinal column, and even through the part of my spine that goes up through my neck. This causes extreme amounts of discomfort and pain, but it is actually something I can alleviate with, you guessed it, cracking my back and neck!
There is no way to reverse this condition, and is one that will unfortunately get worse over time. There are good days where I barely notice, and there are bad days where the pain can knock the wind right out of me for a good few hours. Tylenol, over the counter anti-inflammatory, and other low-grade pain medications have proven to give me _some_ relief. HOWEVER, the one true thing that has given me the most relief has always been cracking my back and neck.
Now, I usually get my back popped by a professional chiropractor, but I have taught my husband a couple of ways to very safely crack _parts_ of my upper back. Please know that this is something I personally asked my chiropractor about getting an untrained person to do, and they noted to me that only certain procedures were fine for someone else to perform. I don't recommend letting just anyone do things to your back or neck. Everything done is purely out of advice from a professional.
Anyway. My neck, I usually crack anywhere from 6 to 30 times a day. I honestly don't count, but I do it enough that I'm quite aware of it. It's LOUD. Everyone in a room can hear it.
I can very well pop my cervical without any help. My husband generally works on the largest middle section of my thoracic, and I can often pop somewhere around the base of my lumbar and my sacrum. However, I sometimes need some assistance in doing such.
This cracking causes INCREDIBLE amounts of pressure release and pain relief, but will not always solve the entire issue because of my degeneration. My Cervical looks like someone in their 60s, Thoracic is degraded in a way that it appears to look like that of someone in their 40s, my lumbar and sacrum look like someone in their 70s+. This is a hereditary disease of my spine, (thanks grandpa), and can lead to me developing scoliosis.
As you can see, the cervical section of the spine is supposed to have a gentle curve to it, quite a little bit more than the image shows there, but my neck is actually very straight. This is due to the damage done to my discs.
I've often rolled my shoulders back to pop them as well.
ANYWAY. Aside from the anatomy lessons, I hope that your questions have been answered! Crack away~! It honestly doesn't cause any damages. I often crack my wrists and my fingers through out the week. I do have minute arthritis in my wrists, fingers, and knees, but this again is due to my own gene pool. lol
As it has been stated before, I just want to reiterate; If you are feeling any pain or discomfort from cracking your knuckles or other parts, then PLEASE stop and consult a doctor when possible.
Hi there!
I suffer from what is called "degenerated discs."
These discs are through my entire spinal column, and even through the part of my spine that goes up through my neck. This causes extreme amounts of discomfort and pain, but it is actually something I can alleviate with, you guessed it, cracking my back and neck!
There is no way to reverse this condition, and is one that will unfortunately get worse over time. There are good days where I barely notice, and there are bad days where the pain can knock the wind right out of me for a good few hours. Tylenol, over the counter anti-inflammatory, and other low-grade pain medications have proven to give me _some_ relief. HOWEVER, the one true thing that has given me the most relief has always been cracking my back and neck.
Now, I usually get my back popped by a professional chiropractor, but I have taught my husband a couple of ways to very safely crack _parts_ of my upper back. Please know that this is something I personally asked my chiropractor about getting an untrained person to do, and they noted to me that only certain procedures were fine for someone else to perform. I don't recommend letting just anyone do things to your back or neck. Everything done is purely out of advice from a professional.
Anyway. My neck, I usually crack anywhere from 6 to 30 times a day. I honestly don't count, but I do it enough that I'm quite aware of it. It's LOUD. Everyone in a room can hear it.
I can very well pop my cervical without any help. My husband generally works on the largest middle section of my thoracic, and I can often pop somewhere around the base of my lumbar and my sacrum. However, I sometimes need some assistance in doing such.
This cracking causes INCREDIBLE amounts of pressure release and pain relief, but will not always solve the entire issue because of my degeneration. My Cervical looks like someone in their 60s, Thoracic is degraded in a way that it appears to look like that of someone in their 40s, my lumbar and sacrum look like someone in their 70s+. This is a hereditary disease of my spine, (thanks grandpa), and can lead to me developing scoliosis.
As you can see, the cervical section of the spine is supposed to have a gentle curve to it, quite a little bit more than the image shows there, but my neck is actually very straight. This is due to the damage done to my discs.
I've often rolled my shoulders back to pop them as well.
ANYWAY. Aside from the anatomy lessons, I hope that your questions have been answered! Crack away~! It honestly doesn't cause any damages. I often crack my wrists and my fingers through out the week. I do have minute arthritis in my wrists, fingers, and knees, but this again is due to my own gene pool. lol
As it has been stated before, I just want to reiterate; If you are feeling any pain or discomfort from cracking your knuckles or other parts, then PLEASE stop and consult a doctor when possible.
A note with neck cracking. I can crack the top pf my vertebrate, where is attaches to the skull. This is because it is misaligned and a ligament is stuck under it. It is very painful at times.
I am having a series of Ostios (cannot spell full name.) done and the first one worked. Have the second next week and I cannot wait.
In other words, if you are cracking your neck, have it checked by a doctor as it might be something misaligned.
An Ostio is painless, a trained doc just moves the spine back where it belongs. It feels wonderful. However, my spine ended up back where it was before so I am quite eager to do it again.
I am having a series of Ostios (cannot spell full name.) done and the first one worked. Have the second next week and I cannot wait.
In other words, if you are cracking your neck, have it checked by a doctor as it might be something misaligned.
An Ostio is painless, a trained doc just moves the spine back where it belongs. It feels wonderful. However, my spine ended up back where it was before so I am quite eager to do it again.
I just wish popping knuckles/necks wasn't a thing, it makes me cringe so much. I hate it. Did I mention IT MAKES ME CRINGE AND I HATE IT?!?!?!?!?
Dragon_Feather wrote:
I just wish popping knuckles/necks wasn't a thing, it makes me cringe so much. I hate it. Did I mention IT MAKES ME CRINGE AND I HATE IT?!?!?!?!?
I've got carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist. I think over the course of the day, I crack the joint probably 15 to 20 times just to get some relief from the tension that builds up. If I dont do it, it feels like my wrist will lock, and when that happens too often, my pinky and ring finger start to go numb. It sucks.
I love all these replies I'm getting, but I forgot to include something, I have mild back pain that comes up maybe once a month, its kinda like a shock anytime I move my spine which forces me to keep it straight as the day goes on, but it only happens once a month or so. Should I see a doctor? Popping it is one of the only reliefs, but bending it so I can pop it is excruciatingly painful, but once I pop it relieves all the pain
JustAGuy wrote:
I love all these replies I'm getting, but I forgot to include something, I have mild back pain that comes up maybe once a month, its kinda like a shock anytime I move my spine which forces me to keep it straight as the day goes on, but it only happens once a month or so. Should I see a doctor? Popping it is one of the only reliefs, but bending it so I can pop it is excruciatingly painful, but once I pop it relieves all the pain
I'd say it's better to be safe than sorry: even though the pain isn't incredibly frequent, speaking from my own experience, it could indicate early stages of chronical back pain. Even if it's not serious, better to check than to let it get worse.
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