Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

(bbc.com)

39 points | by tchalla 8 hours ago ago

44 comments

  • modeless 35 minutes ago

    This is a bit weird, but I started getting mild wrist pain from computer use in college, and I credit two things with reversing it. One was rock climbing which strengthened my forearms and wrists, and the other was developing a habit of cracking my wrist joints. I stopped rock climbing many years ago but I continue to crack my wrists to this day. The habit causes me to flex and stretch my wrists every so often and I really think that has prevented me from developing repetitive strain injuries from mouse and keyboard use.

    • Markoff 17 minutes ago

      I've had serious issues with my wrist in June (after decades of sitting in front of computer for most of the worktime), it hurt when bent or when using it for almost any load.

      I tried painkiller cream (don't think it helped), wrist brace (pretty much impossible to use mouse with it), wrist exercises (bending/stretching arm) didn't help.

      I switched from traditional mouse (HP 255 dual wireless) to my wife's Logitech Lift Vertical (she didn't use and bought based on my recommendation anyway, so replaced with my HP) and the pain/issues were gone in ~2 weeks, not sure if it was thanks to the vertical mouse or if it would gone by itself, but just to be safe I keep using vertical mouse. Later I went to preventive check with my kid to their pediatrician, amusingly noticed he is using exactly same mouse.

      Btw. how do you crack your wrist (you mean sudden movement to left/right/up/down)? I crack finger joints, but would never think of cracking the wrist.

  • ElijahLynn 4 hours ago

    This is good to read about, and nice that it has and research referenced.

    It's interesting to know that it's gas collapsing. And nothing to do with the bone rubbing.

    And it makes you wonder what chiropractors are actually doing when they're popping your back... It's probably not doing anything to help you with your pain. And it's probably not actually adjusting anything.

    • PaulDavisThe1st 4 hours ago

      I recommend reading up on the actual history of chiropractic ... I've seen articles that seem to make it clear that it was long con right from the start.

      I acknowledge that this is not the only view on the history.

      • chneu 3 hours ago

        Its a con that is trying very hard to become legitimate.

        Chiros started as a scam, continued as a scam, and are now a widely accepted scam. The legit work they do is often just physical therapy.

        Just go to a physical therapist.

        • AngryData 7 minutes ago

          A physical therapist costs significantly more, which is why a lot of chiropractors in rural areas with a lot of manual labor are well looked upon. They are mostly just practicing physical therapy without a medical license which could get them in trouble if it wasn't considered chiropractic work. The pure quackery doesn't get them as far because most of their customers are too poor to regularly spend on woowoo crap.

          In my area someone's insurance might cover the first 3-4 sessions of physical therapy, but nothing after that despite them needing it for longer. So the physical therapist will at the end of insurance billing send them down the road to do the exact same thing at the chiropractor for significantly cheaper.

          In places without a lot of manual labor they are probably mostly just the quackery. Their clients are lots of hypochondriacs and office workers who really just need to get more exercise but are willing to find anyone who says they can make them better without significant effort. Im sure the massages and stretching does feel good though atleast, but im sure a massage parlor would set out some crystals and do a massage for cheaper.

        • burnt-resistor 3 hours ago

          It's a con like osteopathic "medicine". D.O. should be shunned and rejected because it's pretending to be legitimate and/or legitimized.

          • dghlsakjg 2 hours ago

            DOs are sorta weird in the US. They go to real medical school for 4 years like MDs and practice actual licensed medicine at the same level as an MD. They can even call themselves physicians.

            Non DO osteopaths are not trained with any sort of scientifically backed curriculum.

            • toast0 an hour ago

              I have a cousin who is a DO (in the US). It seems like it's basically an out to get effectively an MD with a slightly lower bar for admission.

              Once you're in the program, it's basically the same as an MD program, and then you go through residency programs on an equal basis with MDs.

        • aorloff an hour ago

          Its such a scam that professional sports teams all hire chiropractors to work on the bodies they invest millions of dollars into each year.

          • azan_ 17 minutes ago

            Yes, rich people get scammed too.

          • senectus1 an hour ago

            none of us is as dumb as all of us...

      • bena 4 hours ago

        “You have a fever because of the ghosts in your bones”

    • wahern 3 hours ago

      Chiropratic can help with pain, but not for the claimed reasons. Studies show it's as efficacious as massage therapy. I believe the same is true of cupping. Insurers increasingly cover these sorts of therapies, and primary's increasingly prescribe them, because they're cheaper than a real doctor's time, especially a specialist's, and the patient is more likely to feel better than if they were subjected to a long diagnostic gauntlet with an inconclusive end.

    • iamthejuan an hour ago

      I have difficulty breathing sometimes but when bones were adjusted on my back, it was an instant relief, breathing like I have never experienced for a very long time that I almost forgot. Effortless and deep.

    • selectodude 4 hours ago

      If a chiropractor could adjust something by pushing on your bone, imagine what tripping and falling would do.

      • BenjiWiebe 4 hours ago

        Tripping and falling can mess you up for a long time. And I don't mean broken bones.

        • 13 minutes ago
          [deleted]
        • UncleOxidant an hour ago

          Just tripping a bit messed up my SI joint pretty bad a few years back. It didn't even seem serious at the time, just a bit of a stumble off of the curb, but the next day I could barely get out of bed and was in pretty serious pain for several days. Couldn't go up stairs and had a tough time getting my pants on. Still acts up sometimes.

        • danpalmer 3 hours ago

          So can a chiropractor!

        • bryanrasmussen 2 hours ago

          I think that's the joke?

    • ButlerianJihad 2 hours ago

      There is a chain of clinics here called "Emergency Chiropractic" and they advertise how they take insurance and get your adverse diagnosis fast, fast, fast.

      https://youtu.be/kOzwC5j7UkA?si=sHdHJzzEdn-E2a_N

      And their mascot is literally a duck! I think it took me ten years to figure out the quack part here!

    • LeoPanthera 4 hours ago

      It's surprising that it's not common knowledge that "Chiropractic" is not medicine, nor a science, and the field is associated with vaccine misinformation and unproven supplements.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic

      • emmelaich 3 hours ago

        Sadly many universities offer degrees with chiropractic being a major part.

      • burnt-resistor 2 hours ago

        Osteopathy makes even bolder claims for similar shit and has been legitimized into the medical community as "equal" to medical doctors.

  • MiroslavPokorny 30 minutes ago

    Really BBC ?

  • codetiger 3 hours ago

    Another question, has anyone noticed cracking knuckles being contagious like yarning? I often crack my knuckles and quite often see others noticing and doing it themselves.

  • analog31 4 hours ago

    Not in my house. It's annoying.

    • PeterHolzwarth 35 minutes ago

      Sorry to see the down votes you are getting. I am an inveterate knuckle-cracker, but I very much understand that a subset of people find it unpleasant and irritating to hear.

    • anigbrowl 4 hours ago

      I have bad news for you about what happens your joints as you get older

  • eth0up 4 hours ago

    Bruce Lee cracked his knuckles a lot, and he died in his 30s. He was in great shape too.

    But I think it's mostly just escaping gases.

    Edit: ^ is my way of asking why this is on HN, which I never do, cause then someone could ask the same about me.

    • not_a_bot_4sho 2 hours ago

      Yup. Bruce Lee drank water. He died. Anyone who drinks water will eventually die. It's a fact.

      • toast0 an hour ago

        You know, water is basically made up of rocket fuel. And they put it in our kids' schools.

  • 4 hours ago
    [deleted]
  • abstractspoon 4 hours ago

    Betteridge says?

  • dgritsko 4 hours ago

    TL,DR: No, unless you're doing it so hard that you're straining your joints. But don't crack your neck.

    • ranger_danger 4 hours ago

      > don't crack your neck

      The article makes a point to mention specifically that excessive/forceful neck cracking can be dangerous, but then switches to just "Cracking your own neck is not recommended"... but to me it sounds like they're referring more to the forceful kind, such as the manipulations on youtube they reference.

      I suppose it's like asking people to stop using q-tips... they're probably not going to, and the amount of people accidentally injured from either seems to be quite low.

      • s1artibartfast 4 hours ago

        Yeah, and with the q-tips, it seems trival to do it safely. For some reason, be aware or careful always gets compressed to avoidance

        • lokar 3 hours ago

          YouTube has some pretty awful videos of ear canals full of cotton fibers. Touching the eardrum is not the only risk.

          • AngryData 2 minutes ago

            I mean it is pretty easy to find all sorts of people misusing or poorly using common hygiene products. Everyone I know uses q-tip in their ears and none have ever had a problem with it. To me it would be like not using toilet paper because some people aren't smart enough to not scour their ass raw.

          • sublinear 3 hours ago

            And you think YouTube represents the average user of q-tips?

            Even when YouTube has videos uploaded by doctors having to put up with this kind of stupidity, it doesn't change the fact that hardly anyone does that. The vast majority of stuff uploaded to YouTube isn't even that. It's losers trying to get views.

        • georgemcbay 3 hours ago

          > For some reason, be aware or careful always gets compressed to avoidance

          The reason is legal liability, generally.

          If you sell Q-Tips and tell people to be careful when sticking them in their ears you're likely to be held legally liable when someone isn't careful because there will be infinite wiggle room for them to claim you didn't specify the safe use clearly enough.

          If you sell Q-Tips and tell people not to put them in their ear (even though you know that's why most people are buying them) then when someone sues you for messing up their ear you can tap the words on the box and say "well, we told you not to do that".

    • 4 hours ago
      [deleted]