Is Cracking Your Knuckles Bad for You?
By Dr. Tim Fargo, Chiropractor
If our mothers and grandmothers were correct in their assertion that cracking your knuckles leads to arthritis and all manner of other bad things, then many of us would be crippled. The truth is that, while knuckle cracking might be profoundly irritating to those on the listening side of things, there is no evidence to suggest that cracking your knuckles leads to any particular damage.
On the other hand (no pun intended), we also see people who habitually “crack” their own neck and back. It is one thing, in the course of doing yoga or stretching, to hear clicks and pops in the various joints being stretched and moved. These general movements are not damaging to the joints because there are no specific forces being applied to them. The same cannot be said for those who forcefully manipulate, for example, their necks in order to relieve tension and alleviate pain. The unfortunate truth is that people who feel a need or compulsion to crack their neck or back are doing so because they have specific mechanical and structural misalignments that cause inflammation, muscle spasm, and loss of movement. These misalignments are the correct target of a chiropractor or someone else trained in spinal manipulation. What happens when you attempt to adjust or manipulate yourself is that the areas above and below the actual fixation release. When these joints release you may well hear a crack or a pop. Unfortunately, the fact that you hear something happening in the general area does not mean that you are actually correcting anything. In fact, what you are more than likely doing is introducing movement to joints that are already excessively mobile. Doing so on a repeated basis can cause damage to the joints and associated ligaments. The net conclusion is that self-manipulation may provide temporary relief, but does little or nothing to alleviate the underlying issue.
While we are on the subject of cracking joints, I should explain that the “crack” that you hear when you crack your knuckles or stretch your spine, or when you get adjusted by a chiropractor, is caused by a phenomenon known as “cavitation”. Joints have smooth surfaces that are adjacent to each other. There is fluid between those smooth surfaces, and separating those surfaces causes the adhesive properties to be overcome and then the joint pops. It is a bit like putting a wet drinking glass on a smooth countertop, going to pick it up, feeling how it’s sort of stuck to the countertop, pulling a little harder, and feeling it finally pop free. By the way, the pop that you often hear associated with chiropractic adjustments is not the goal of the therapy we provide. Chiropractic can be highly therapeutic even when nothing is heard as a consequence of the adjustment. People often ask, “Did that go”? when they don’t hear an audible pop. The truth is that the cracking noise really means nothing and, in and of itself, has no therapeutic value. Conversely, I could make any joint in your body pop and unless that joint has some particular dysfunction, doing so has no value. Let’s all just get over being crack addicts and focus on restoring function. That is what we do at Chiropractic Health and Wellness in Edina. Schedule an appointment with us today.
