Popping ones knuckles, is it harmful?

[ADXC]

Okay yeah, Ive been popping my knuckles for quite a few years and Ive been wondering, is it harmful to your knuckles? I'm asking this because Im wondering if I'm going to get arthritis at a young age(Or at least speed up the illness.). I mean I love to do it before practicing the piano or typing on the computer because it relieves the stiffness in my hands.

Also, does anyone else do it, or is it just me?

EDIT: I also like to crack me neck. It sometimes freaks out the person behind me at the time.

[shooraijin]

Old wives' tale. There is no relationship whatsoever. Some people suspect it may cause tendon injuries over time, but this is only suspected and has not been proven.

[ADXC]

Yay! So I guess I can continue popping and cracking without worry!

[shooraijin]

Well ... :-P

[ADXC]

Well, what?

[goldenspines]

I've always found that people popping their knuckles is rather annoying and often gross, in my personal experience. XD
I mean, it's not the most polite thing to do in the company of others, unless all your friends are doing it at the same time or something. o.o

But who knows, I may be the only person that would be semi repulsed my it. XD;

[ADXC]

It's not like I put a show on! I said, I primarily do it before I type or play the piano. No one is usually around at these times.

[Tsukuyomi]

I heard it makes your knuckles bigger.. Or, something like that XDD

[ADXC]

EDIT: Nevermind.

[goldenspines]

It's not like I put a show on! I said, I primarily do it before I type or play the piano. No one is usually around at these times.

I've known too many people that over dramatize it, I suppose. XD

[ADXC]

Well, it's a soothing thing to me, not something to be dramatized or put on display in front of others.

It's kinda like washing my hands, I just have to do it after a while.

[Shao Feng-Li]

No, but it's as annoying as crap.

[ADXC]

@ Shao- It really depends where it is done.

[Makachop^^128]

lol ah I do it ^^ and I was tested but don't have it

[Bobtheduck]

Popping your knuckles is fine, but there are nerves in your neck that you can damage if you crack your neck wrong, I think.

[Kaligraphic]

I once cracked my neck wrong and was left paralyzed from the neck down. Fortunately, I was able to recieve a powerful cybernetic body that can fly by shooting great gouts of flame from its backside.

It burns.

[Midori]

I once tried to pop my pinky finger too hard and dislocated or sprained it. It's never been the same since. <:-|

[CrimsonRyu17]

I do it all the time before work, makes my fingers feel more flexible or something. I do it when someone else is doing it to show off too. :p

[MBlight]

I once cracked my neck wrong and was left paralyzed from the neck down. Fortunately, I was able to recieve a powerful cybernetic body that can fly by shooting great gouts of flame from its backside.

It burns.

[Paul]

Well, I guess I'm going to be the odd one, but here goes.

Popping knuckles will cause the following:
Arthritis
swelling of the joints
cartalidge breakdown
stiff joints in the winter and wet weather
eventually the loss of use of your fingers
will cost you thousands of dollars in prescriptions and over the counter medications and creams and eventually joint replacement surgery. Not to mention helping that doctor buy his new fishing boat while you painfully try to draw like you once did.


I started popping my knuckles when I was 10, lately I discovered I'm at the stiff joints stage, but I'm like that all the time now. I use creams and OVC medications to help me on worse days. I still do, regretfully, because it's the only way I can work sometimes. It's like smoking to some people. It's a very unhealthy bad habit. If you can break the habit now, do it while your fingers are in good health.

Paul

[Robin Firedrake]

^Proof? And I pop my knuckles all the time. Matter of fact, half the time I have no choice. I just move them and they all go pop.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Old wives' tale. There is no relationship whatsoever. Some people suspect it may cause tendon injuries over time, but this is only suspected and has not been proven.

You're the doctor, doctor! I guess I'll stop harrassing my significant other every time she does it. She's bad about the knuckles and neck in a big way. I keep telling her that her head will fall off if she doesn't stop.

Edit: You know, I guess that would make it an old husband's tale...

[Shao Feng-Li]

@ Shao- It really depends where it is done.

Granted. As in, the little kid popping his knuckles behind you at church will make you go insane, lol

[ADXC]

@ Shao-I can see how that would be annoying, but I don't do it while in front of others.


@ Paul-Hmm, do you have some proof? It sounds about right, but I'd like to see some proof. Because shooraijin sounds right here with him being in the medical field.

Yeah, I can agree that it is like smoking, a bad habit I know. But I just have to do it.

[ChristianKitsune]

I used to do it, but to be honest... I can't rememer when I actually did it last XD.

I would say that neck/back popping REALLY freaks me out when I hear others do it... lol.

[Anystazya]

I would say that neck/back popping REALLY freaks me out when I hear others do it... lol.

Hahaha, my brother cracks his neck sometimes, and there are these kids in my grade who crack their backs

I've always been told that you'd get arthritis from cracking your knuckles...But yeah, since shooraijin's a doctor...^^ I'll trust what he says.

[Derek_Is_Me]

I pop both my hands and neck. Nothings gone wrong yet. And I have heard from several people that it causes arthritis. Well guess what. Almost everyone in my family has arthritis apparently because the doctor said it was genetic. Sounds impossible I know but its the truth. So if I get arthritis at least I'll know were it did and didn't come from.

[Nate]

@ Paul-Hmm, do you have some proof? It sounds about right, but I'd like to see some proof. Because shooraijin sounds right here with him being in the medical field.

If you read Paul's last comment in his list, it would seem to me that he's implying that since shooraijin is a doctor, his post cannot be trusted because he wants you to crack your knuckles more so that he can charge you exorbitant amounts of money for later medical problems.

Although shoo doesn't even live in the same state as you, let alone on the other side of the country, and I'm sure there isn't some secret doctor cabal where they split their earnings, so WHY he would have a vested interest in you ruining your knuckles is anyone's guess.

Anyway, I'd take the word of the licensed medical professional over the random guy on the internet. Just my two cents.

[shooraijin]

If you read Paul's last comment in his list, it would seem to me that he's implying that since shooraijin is a doctor, his post cannot be trusted because he wants you to crack your knuckles more so that he can charge you exorbitant amounts of money for later medical problems.

*snaps fingers*

[Kaligraphic]

Um, there is a secret doctor cabal. I know because they once turned me into a newt.


I got better.