Is cracking your knuckles in your ankle harmful?

Answer 1

If you've ever laced your fingers together, turned your palms away from you and bent your fingers back, you know what knuckle popping sounds like. Joints produce that CRACK when bubbles burst in the fluid surrounding the joint. Joints are the meeting points of two separate bones, held together and in place by connective tissues and ligaments. Many of the joints in our bodies are surrounded by synovial fluid, a thick, clear liquid. When you stretch or bend your finger to pop the knuckle, you are causing the bones of the joint to pull apart. As they do, the connective tissue capsule that surrounds the joint is stretched. By stretching this capsule, you increase its volume. And as we know from chemistry class, with an increase in volume comes a decrease in pressure. So as the pressure of the synovial fluid drops, gases dissolved in the fluid become less soluble, forming bubbles through a process called cavitation. When the joint is stretched far enough, the pressure in the capsule drops so low that these bubbles burst, producing the pop that we associate with knuckle cracking.

It takes about 25-30 minutes for the gas to redissolve into the joint fluid. During this period of time, your knuckles will not crack. Once the gas is redissolved, cavitation is once again possible, and you can start popping your knuckles again.

As for the harms associated with this habit, according to Anatomy and Physiology Instructors' Cooperative, only one in-depth study regarding the possible detriments of knuckle popping has been published. This study, done by Raymond Brodeur and published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, examined 300 knuckle crackers for evidence of joint damage. The results revealed no apparent connection between joint cracking and Arthritis; however, habitual knuckle poppers did show signs of other types of damage, including soft tissue damage to the joint capsule and a decrease in grip strength. This damage is most likely a result of the rapid, repeated stretching of the ligaments surrounding the joint. A professional Baseball pitcher experiences similar, although obviously heightened, effects in the various joints of his pitching arm. But assuming you haven't signed a multimillion dollar contract to constantly pop your knuckles, it hardly seems worth the possible risk to your joints.

On the positive side, there is evidence of increased mobility in joints right after popping. When joints are manipulated, the Golgi tendon organs (a set of nerve endings involved in humans' motion sense) are stimulated and the muscles surrounding the joint are relaxed. This is part of the reason why people can feel "loose" and invigorated after leaving the chiropractor's office, where cavitation is induced as part of the treatment. Backs, knees, elbows and all other movable joints are subject to the same kind of manipulation as knuckles are.

Answer 2

Cracking your knuckles is not bad for you. It is just bubbles in the fluid surrounding your knuckles, and then bursting the bubbles by moving your joints in a particular way. If it was bone against bone it would hurt you.

(EDIT) Orthodontists checked 400 habitual knuckle-crackers, and came to the conclusion that it doesn't do anything serious. But, it showed that habitual knuckle-crackers seem to get soft tissue erosion and small joint damage. It won't do anything worse than making your grip weaker, though, so no one has to worry about it.

Answer 3

yes dummmy its called arthrites!

Answer 2

In fact, it does harm your knuckles, but not arthritis. I'm the living proof. It doesn't hurt, but the joints I cracked are swollen. The XRay scans certainly didn't look pretty. Probably damaged ligaments said the doctor. In case you wonder: my general health is excellent, I have never broken a bone in my life and no one in my family has arthritis, neither do I. So, speaking from experience, please be careful. It does not make your fingers less functional, but it does make them ugly. That is, 3 to 5 millimeters extra on every side of a cracked knuckle.

My currently malformed fingers give me a serious psychological strain. I always close my hands, slightly hiding it. In public I even try to imagine the viewing angle of others and turn my hands accordingly. Some dreams I have, like speaking in front of a public, will never come true just because of the fear it gives me. It's not a fun situation and if the damage could be reversed I would do so right away. Even now I hope for a future medical evolution making it possible to have this reversed.

I've been cracking my fingers from age 10. That's when it all started. I saw an aunt doing it, and I wanted to try the same. I couldn't crack mine vertically, but with a little effort it did work horizontally. I've been very stressed during my youth and somehow this released my stress a bit. I gradually turned it into a habit. I cracked my fingers whenever I could, maybe every 15 to 30 minutes, almost every single day. I believe that from age 12-13 it became visible and towards age 15 it was rather severe. Over 15 years later I'm not where I wanted to be. My current job (webdeveloper) allows me to feel more comfortable, but my real dream would be to work with people, not with computers. As you can see, this has quite an impact.

You may cope with it better than me, but I do not wish such a thing for you.

Answer 4

No. I don't believe that it is. I think it releases stress on you joints. So your tendons can move more freely. If it becomes a habit though then it may indicate a behavioral problem or Arthritis. Be kind to yourself by carrying around Aspercreme or mint scented (also comes in vanishing sent) Ben Gay.

Answer 5

no not at all, adults just tell you that because they think it is a rude habit to start. All that's going on is that nitrogen bubbles are being popped in your knuckles.

Answer 6

You will probaby have arthritis later in life so i would stop

that is a myth you will be perfectly fine. All you are doing is popping air pockets inside the knuckles.

Answer 7

Only if you want bad Arthritis when your older.

Answer 8

cracking knuckles is Not Good for health & not bad for health. only leads to sore fingers at the end of the day..

Answer 9

first of all, there are no knuckles in your ankle and cracking knuckles is harmful anyway

Answer 10

No, it is actually a talent. And it WON'T GIVE YOU ARTHRITIS.