• What damage does joint cracking inflict? I have heard that pulling on the finger does little to no damage, whereas pushing the finger down towards the palm (which is what I do) does the most. I can see that, as my knuckle is swollen.

    Yeah, and I'm a girl. 😄

  • Community Lead

    Where did you hear that? However, it does make kinda sense.

    Please see the thread Does Jointcracking lead to arthritis? for a good overview about scientific studies on damage caused by habitual to excessive joint cracking.

    I'll quote one passage on sweeling liagments:

    The evidence of tissue swelling with habitual joint cracking indicates that the only area of injury would be at the proposed snap-back interface between the capsular ligament and the synovial fluid. Microtrauma may occur at the portion of the ligament involved in the snap-back and excessive joint cracking may ultimately lead to swelling of the ligament. This mechanism is completely speculative, but at least it has the support of clinical evidence (19)

    How often do you crack your kuckles?

  • Nothing's confirmed on that, I think I got it from someone in a forum, but it does make sense.

    As you know, I can snap my finger repeatedly, so I do crack pretty much all the time but I'm trying to cut down (at least on my index) because it annoys people and it becomes really stiff when I do it too much.

    It's a shame that the one which feels the nicest does the most damage.

  • As is always the way.

    Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.

    And i think this does 100% apply to joint cracking.

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