UPSB v4
Hand Care / Cracking Knuckles
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Date: Tue, Jun 8 2010 20:09:02
Do you crack your knuckles? Does it have any benefits/drawbacks? Could it affect long-term health and spinning? What do you think? Continued from here.
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Date: Tue, Jul 20 2010 18:43:52
yup, after pen spinning for a long time, cracking my knuckles does help. it's relieves pressure, and makes my fingers move and respond better
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Date: Tue, Jul 20 2010 18:45:43
I've heard from dad and other ppl saying that it is bad.. when you get old it starts to hurt or s/t happens ... Maybe the insertion gets weak, not sure.
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Date: Wed, Jul 21 2010 02:37:23
no, it's just a myth. Cracking knuckles is 100 percent safe. Getting asthritis from it is not true. The cracking sound is just bubbles getting popped, and has nothing to do with your bones or anything
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Date: Thu, Jul 22 2010 05:14:36
i can't crack my knuckles>.> even if i want to.
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Date: Sat, Jul 24 2010 01:34:01
I heard it does some damage. But otherwise, it seems harmless.
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Date: Sat, Jul 24 2010 02:27:26
after trainning for couple of hours, i ussually cracking my knuckle. in my opinion, it makes my finger easy to move... some people like my parents said that is does some injure, makes my knuckles bigger... but in the other hand, i think is harmless and if my knuckles become bigger, its ok...
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Date: Mon, Aug 2 2010 18:14:09
I heard it makes your fingers longer >.<
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Date: Tue, Aug 3 2010 07:50:55
punlunz wrote: some people like my parents said that is does some injure, makes my knuckles bigger...
Heard the same thing so it's propably true but I don't think that it'll be very harmful if you don't do very often. As for me it's something like unconditional reflex, it helps me to relieve stress. -
Date: Wed, Aug 4 2010 21:53:14
I do it from time to time, each finger at two joints. Afterwards my fingers just feel freer/looser ... causes no pains. I heared 'it does cause problems' as well as 'it does not' from several people so ... I'm not going to stop doing in.
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Date: Thu, Aug 5 2010 00:39:53
My parents say it causes arthiritis in the future. I still do it since it releases ALOT of stress on the fingers. Ill find out in the future, but for now *cracks knuckles*.
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Date: Thu, Aug 5 2010 02:21:01
Cracking your knuckles does not actually hurt your bones or cause arthritis. The sound you hear is just gas bubbles bursting. Cracking your knuckles (or any of your joints) can have therapeutic benefits. When you crack one of your joints you are pulling the bones that are connected at the joint apart from each other. This process stimulates your tendons, relaxes your muscles, and loosens your joints. Chiropractors do this for spinal joints when your back is sore and stiff, but you can do this on your own for your knuckles, toes, knees, neck, etc. Unfortunately, there can be too much of a good thing. Cracking your knuckles will never lead to arthritis (despite what your mom keeps telling you), but scientists have discovered that it can cause tissue damage in the affected joints. Knuckle-cracking pulls your finger bones apart which stretches your ligaments. Too much stretching of your ligaments will cause damage to your fingers akin to the arm injuries sustained by a baseball pitcher who throws too many pitches. In addition to making your hand really sore, this ligament damage can also result in reduced grip strength. How does this work? Your joints, the places in your body where you can bend, are where your bones intersect and are held together by ligaments. These joints are surrounded by a liquid called synovial fluid. When you stretch your ligaments by pulling the bones apart to crack your knuckles a gas in the synovial fluid escapes and turns into a bubble. This process is called cavitation. Cavitation ends when the bubble eventually bursts, producing that popping sound we know and love. After that, your joints won't be able to crack for another 25-30 minutes while the gas gets reabsorbed into the synovial fluid.
So yeah. -
Date: Thu, Aug 5 2010 07:04:19
I can crack my thumb about 3-5 times in a row. Video proof soon.
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Date: Fri, Aug 6 2010 13:00:24
I heard somebody actually did some real study on the matter instead of completely unfounded speculation TL;DR : Doctor only cracked his left knuckle for 50 years, absolutely nothing different from his right hand
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Date: Mon, Aug 9 2010 06:45:56
When I was a climber, I heard that cracking knuckles over time reduced your grip strength, but I doubt it's true and grip strength isn't needed for pen spinning.
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Date: Sat, Aug 14 2010 00:36:54
you need grip strength when ur old and you cant do anything though lol
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Date: Sun, Aug 15 2010 17:56:07
i think your right, i am cracking my knuckles and my fingers before, but when someone tells me that my finger is bigger than a normal size, i stopped cracking my knuckles and my fingers,
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Date: Sat, Sep 4 2010 01:40:29
When I don't then my fingers do go as far back or as smooth and fluent and feels good and loose and like not attached and off and yeah you get the point. So when I do I get all that and I just spin better.
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Date: Sat, Sep 4 2010 09:16:14
LMAO REVIVAL OF THIS THREAD. i made the OG one :D anyways you lose grip strength if you crack your knuckles
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Date: Tue, Sep 28 2010 13:28:30
LOL dont crack knuckles..... ur finger joints will get thicker specially if u crack the second joint from the top of ur finger, it will fking bothers you to learn continues trick... like FL IA >.<
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Date: Thu, Oct 7 2010 09:20:38
When i try nothing happens. i had to ask a girl to crack my knuckles for me. when my knuckles cracked, it felt funny for a while. i could do my tricks better and more busts =D but then it would go back to normal in 5 mins =( BTW i like that girl XD
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Date: Sat, Oct 9 2010 06:18:25
:wtf:
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Date: Sat, Oct 9 2010 09:33:10
My knuckles don't crack.. but my toes do. :/
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Date: Sat, Dec 18 2010 00:37:52
Ah, I recently noticed that the second joint on all my fingers is rather large...is there anything I can do to fix this? I suspect it's due to cracking my fingers since I do that a lot, and I crack each joint.
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Date: Sat, Dec 18 2010 13:49:34
does cracking your knuckles really lead to joint disfunctions in the future?
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Date: Sun, Dec 26 2010 07:12:20
Well, This is quite interesting. Cracking your knuckles does have a good and bad to it. It's perfectly fine if you do it from time to time, but if you attempt to crack your knuckles and it resists until it cracks painfully, that's a definite no-no. See, it relieves pressure and it'll make your hand more flexible, but if it's constant, very bad. Over the years, you may lose some grip strength, but it's probably not noticeable. Arthritis? No. Definitely. Myth.
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Date: Fri, May 13 2011 12:48:02
There was this one guy who cracked all of his knuckles on his left hand when he could and never cracked any on his right hand. He did it for like 70 years.....and there was no difference between his hands. I know that story is true, I just don't remember what the guy's name was. But either way cracking knuckles has NO effect on hand health whatsoever. I usually crack my knuckles before and during penspinning because it feels like my hand can be looser without all those air bubbles in them.
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Date: Thu, Jan 5 2012 09:52:52
It might not do much damage, but if you're unlucky, your knuckles will swell up and become fat, and may affect your spinning, that's what happened to my friend's friend.
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Date: Tue, Jan 10 2012 03:23:19
JMember wrote: I've heard from dad and other ppl saying that it is bad.. when you get old it starts to hurt or s/t happens ... Maybe the insertion gets weak, not sure.
it only damages your hand if you crack your knuckles 50 times a day for 37 years -
Date: Tue, Jan 10 2012 06:49:28
Why would you want to crack your knuckles? You people.. :trollface:
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Date: Tue, Jan 10 2012 13:03:14
To relieve stiff joints. Mine could go cracking like fireworks after an hour of furious typing in the office. I crack my toes, neck, wrists, thumbs and backbone whenever I can. And Wobster, you use the trollface too often :p
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Date: Tue, Jan 10 2012 14:12:15
I crack my knuckles, and it just relieves tenseness and any pain that might be there. i crack my wrists only during my pen spinning warm ups, and i crack my neck whenever im bored. i pop my shoulders out of their joints to scare people i know, and i crack my back to gross people out.
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Date: Tue, Jan 10 2012 19:33:30
I read somewhere it's not just the muscels relaxing and loosening up a bit that helps the flexibility, but also the gas which is set free by cracking acts as some kind of gas-cushion like a air-cushion that reduces friction. So your movements can become like super-smooth. :P
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Date: Thu, Jan 12 2012 17:17:17
It's involuntary I do it all the time.
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Date: Sun, Jan 15 2012 07:36:30
cracking knuckles is just a rlly bad habit..i started, and just couldn't stop. what it does, from reading an article on yahoo, is that it weakens ur hand grip, and may swell ur knuckles up, which would affect ur spinning
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Date: Sun, Jan 15 2012 07:54:12
Cracking you bones is probably one of the best things you can do. It relieves pain and is not bad for you at all. In fact it is so good that people pay others to crack things for them fora big price. -Paraphrased from my doctor after my mom was trying to prove that my bother cracking his back was bad. ^_^
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Date: Thu, Jan 26 2012 03:37:59
I read an article about this guy. When he was 10 his mother said cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis. Every day after that he cracked his left hand once a day for 40 years. Every single day, left hand, 40 years. Nothing happened. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
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Date: Fri, Jan 27 2012 05:13:52
I'm pretty sure it was 60 years. Yeah. Nothing comes that is bad from cracking knuckles. I'm quite sure it's caused by some air trapped in the joints or some shit, but in any case, it doesn't do anything.
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Date: Fri, Jan 27 2012 11:07:00
cracking knuckles disfigures your fingers, very bad i got it too :(
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Date: Fri, Jan 27 2012 11:07:53
it makes them bendy
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Date: Thu, Feb 2 2012 19:22:58
from what i know its not really safe but i do it all the time :S
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Date: Sat, Feb 4 2012 19:45:39
All it is is popping nitrogen bubbles in the joint fluid. If anything bad it decreases ligament strength, no more, no less.
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Date: Sat, Feb 4 2012 20:34:54
cracking knuckles weakens your grip strength. not necessarily pen grip though. however, when you grow up, it will make your hands shaky.
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Date: Sat, Feb 4 2012 20:46:18
@utkarsh Are you actually fucking serious? Cracking knuckles comes from pulling apart the synovial fluid in your joints, leaving a vacuum like hole that quickly fills in harmlessly with released gas due to the pressure drop. This is also why it is quieter if you do it slowly. Eventually the gas will go back into the synovial fluid over time letting you "crack" them again. Your finger disfigurement is not from cracking your knuckles, it is either from bone breaks or it is genetic.
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Date: Sun, Feb 5 2012 13:19:02
i do it everday and with variations! :)) HAHA kinda helpful for me.
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Date: Sun, Feb 5 2012 17:42:48
Ravid, no it won't.
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Date: Sun, Feb 5 2012 20:17:49
When you do it too much, shit will happen. That applies to everything. eg: If I crack my fingers too much, shit will happen. eg: If I eat too much, shit will happen. eg: If I sleep too much, shit will happen. eg: If I penspin too much, shit will happen. Get it? Anything done occasionally is fine, just don't get too addicted to it. Frog~
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Date: Sun, Feb 12 2012 17:06:31
I been cracking my knuckles for 5 years...nothing bad happened yet...
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Date: Mon, Feb 13 2012 14:28:07
@Froggy wow... exactly what i was gonna say XD just dont do it in excess and you will be fine. having a few drinks every night is good - it relaxes you, but having a 30 rack a day... well i dont think i really have to explain that. so crack em, its good, but if they get sore or swollen or you have restricted movement you should probable hold off...
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Date: Wed, Feb 15 2012 04:59:50
I never crack my knuckles. For some reason I spin worse after I crack them. O_o
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Date: Fri, Feb 17 2012 07:14:45
i dont do it. my mom told me not to!
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Date: Sun, Mar 4 2012 15:28:05
As far as I am concerned, there are a lot of myths around a lot of subjects in our everyday life(knuckle cracking causes shaky hands and arthitis, swimming after eating a meal results in death, weight lifting stops height growth etc.). Those myths have been busted ages now, but for some weird reason, nobody gives scientists attention and people and especially media keep reproducing them without any kind of critical thinking occuring. Before posting any 'facts' I advise you post the research supporting that too. Here is the research done about this very matter. Generally speaking, almost no difference was found between knuckle crackers and non-knuckle crackers. The only effect that cracking can cause is lower grip strength and hand swelling. Lower grip strength does not particularly mean lower pen grip. In cases of lifting your whole body with your grip then it could make a difference, but there is absolutely no problem when pen spinning(that is of course if you have average to medium strength grip). If you think it is affecting you in any way try doing some knuckle push ups(preferably fast to avoid fast twitch fiber conversion to slow twitch fibers, so you can spin faster). Go ahead you can crack your knuckles as much as you want.
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Date: Wed, Mar 21 2012 23:50:51
At least the last post includes some good news for me :D This means I can continue doing what I am always doing...*crackes my nuckles*
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Date: Sat, Mar 31 2012 17:39:00
it can give you messed up fingers though
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Date: Fri, Apr 13 2012 00:42:52
I find that it helps my fingers mobility. Also there is no damage done by it.
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Date: Fri, Apr 13 2012 11:13:11
Lol. Welll if it Lowers grip strenth then I wont do ittttt
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Date: Sun, Apr 15 2012 01:39:47
Supposedly, your knuckles will grow more than it should :o
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Date: Mon, Jun 25 2012 11:54:33
Cracking your knuckles will cause you to have a weaker grip in the long run. Read this in a Reader's Digest issue (forgot which one)
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Date: Tue, Jun 26 2012 01:46:40
The post above me is correct, i've been cracking my whole life and can feel it in my hand every time I grip something tightly. I also blame cracking my fingers for my fat hands.
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Date: Fri, Jul 27 2012 16:02:25
I've been cracking my knuckles for years and I gotta say it hasnt made any difference except but loosen my fingers for a bit, my grip strength is above average for my skinny hands and I hardly can find anyone who can open my hands when I make a fist, the effect of cracking your knuckles, whether is good bad or indifferent I think has to do more with your genes or something, and grip strength also comes from your forearms so cracking your knuckles wouldnt do much to your forearm or muscles in your hand in my opinion... just saying
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Date: Sat, Jul 28 2012 16:06:42
I even crack my neck and toe, and nothing happened, but my finger is actually a bit fat
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Date: Sun, Jul 29 2012 17:54:14
The cracking sound is from the release of fluid from between your joints, and the change in pressure when you expand the space between them. Not really any harm in doing it, not really any benefit. source: my chiropractor
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Date: Mon, Jul 30 2012 22:58:22
how do i crack my knuckles whenever i try i seem like i will break my fingers
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Date: Mon, Jul 30 2012 23:39:20
Accuru wrote: how do i crack my knuckles whenever i try i seem like i will break my fingers
Cracking knuckles is a very simple task. Tho to some ppl that have not had experience it may see difficult or harmful. I have been cracking my kuckles (also my neck, toes, ankles, knee, behind the kneee w.e. thats called, my wrist sometimes, and my back) for 4years now. I have done many research and school papers about cracking knuckles and it is in no way harmful or bad to your fingers. Just releasing air thru your joints. des not making ur joints bigger. There is lots of explination about this. -
Date: Tue, Aug 21 2012 13:27:41
i also crack my knuckles and my toes since i was young.and i've been told to stop but it seems to can't stop:P
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Date: Thu, Apr 18 2013 09:37:16
my parents said my joints become bigger
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Date: Fri, Apr 19 2013 01:21:25
I crack my knuckles everyday since I was about 6. Nothing wrong with my hands so far. In fact, I just cracked them now.
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Date: Fri, Apr 19 2013 23:03:40
i used to crack my knuckles and many other joints since 2nd grade, but i stopped during 6th grade (unintentionally). I heard that it is bad, but others have said it's not, so i'm not sure. So just playing safe, i probably won't get into the habit of doing it again.
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Date: Mon, Apr 22 2013 00:29:23
ynomir50 wrote: There was this one guy who cracked all of his knuckles on his left hand when he could and never cracked any on his right hand. He did it for like 70 years.....and there was no difference between his hands. I know that story is true, I just don't remember what the guy's name was. But either way cracking knuckles has NO effect on hand health whatsoever. I usually crack my knuckles before and during penspinning because it feels like my hand can be looser without all those air bubbles in them.
Here is an article of the doctor you are describing. I will input that cracking your knuckles is personal preference, akin to pen choice. Some enjoy it, some don't. It doesnt harm you either way. -
Date: Sun, May 5 2013 01:53:43
Actually, I used to crack my knuckles a whole lot back in grade 2 - 4. I stopped after all the "You'll get arthritis" hype. 6 years later, when I try to crack my knuckles, they just won't crack anymore for some reason...