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- Hacker News
- So, I can crack the 2nd and 3rd joints of my fingers just by flexing them. My thumbs don't crack, but I can push the first joint through the range of motion until it locks and pushes the knuckle out the palm side. I can also push my shoulders out of their sockets, getting about another 2 inches of reach. Are my fingers and shoulders just strangely double jointed or is this something different?by t-3
- I have the exact same, and my doctor has told me I have [hypermobility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints))by badduck
- What is it with all those articles that insist I've been doing something, or that I think something is true, or whatever? No, I shouldn't stop cracking my knuckles. I don't crack my knuckles. Stop assuming all those stupid things about me, articles.
- So, I injured my left index finger to the point of tendon interruption. It was approx 2018. I was fortunate enough to have surgery that repaired it to near 100% extension.
So, I clearly have no synovial fluid at that joint. The tendons were in it, and so by necessity it was also violated.
I just popped that knuckles, and it sounds exactly like the others. Anyone have any ideas?
- i attended a prestigious US medical school, everyone there was as in the dark as everyone hereby kingkawn
- I'm in my 60's, and I crack my knuckles dozens if not hundreds of times a day. I started very young, and I do every joint on both hands, every finger joint all the way up to the wrist. This is my hands while I deep think, and I think a lot. I'll do one hand, then the other, and go back to the first hand and repeat.
Due to this habit, I have researched the cause of the crack, and this article is absolutely nothing new whatsoever. The same information I've been reading for 50 years, since I was first "ordered" to stop.
For the record: zero issues. Zero ramifications beyond "stop that!" verbalized endlessly through out my life.
"No."
by bsenftner - I keep reading this same concept and I keep questioning whether they have the whole story.
I'm definitely in the group where cracking gives temporarily increased mobility, but it's more than that. A joint which is bothering me will most likely feel better if cracked and this can be the difference between very painful to walk, then my knee cracked, instantly the pain was gone.
And usually, a joint which is actively being used will not crack--but if my knees are complaining about a downhill stretch they will feel a lot better if I can crack them.
Also, I can sometimes feel a difference in how a joint moves. It just feels smoother when cracked. I don't understand it but I've wondered if it was somehow tiny bubbles (think cavitation) that don't form if the gas was removed by a crack.
by LorenPechtel - 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.
by eth0up - Yup. Bruce Lee drank water. He died. Anyone who drinks water will eventually die. It's a fact.
- Some kids cracked their knuckles. It annoyed some older adults, and instead of telling them to stop they made up some bullshit reason. Classic non assertive behavior. The kids, being kids, believed them. They continued believing them into adulthood. Thus, it became a myth that was passed down.by mpalczewski
- unsure why we're forgetting some kids do things even more when told it's annoying.
- 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 while I'm working and I really think that has helped prevent the development of repetitive strain injuries from mouse and keyboard use.by modeless
- I used to get wrist pain from using mouse and keyboard back 20 years ago. I did no exercises. No stretching, no rock climbing, no triathlons, it just slowly subsided and went away. Maybe I just became aware of positioning and strain to such an expert degree that I just instinctively do the correct moves.by nurettin
- 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.
by Markoff - I get wrist pain as soon as I use anything taller than Apple’s flat Magic Keyboard and touchpad. I’ve used this combo for like a decade now and never experience fatigue. Once, I bought a fancy mechanical keyboard and I returned it within a few weeks as it immediately caused me wrist pain.
You can scoff at low travel and membranes all you want, but less movement = less fatigue, so I think they’re amazing.
Never thought about the climbing angle, but I’ll chime in and say that after I started climbing I’ve definitely not experienced more fatigue.
- I feel like wrist pain can have many different causes. I'm a climber and programmer, and I had pretty bad wrist pain for a bit. Went to the physical therapist, and after poking around a bit, she was like "yeah idk if this is actually a wrist issue. I think it might be referred pain from a pinched nerve higher up". Told me to try and sit with better posture, and gave me some tendon glide exercises. Wrist pain went away in like a week or two.by bpev
- Any muscle, back and joint pain should first be met with mild strengthening, mild weight loss and mild exercise. It's like turning your computer off and on. Mostly the problems go away. Then check for other things :) Keep remembering to relax and move, from your fingers to your wrists and shoulders. And keep trying different set-ups and equipment if you can. There is a pretty magic set-up for most people. 30+ years myself into being on a computer nearly all the time personally and professionally. Back is starting to hurt again. Time to take my own advice again :)by pcblues
- I have cracked other joints as well. I have stopped doing the neck and the spine tho - that seems not worth the risk.
I had a particularly annoying joint that I have completely stopped cracking - likely the cause was a functional issue that is resolved due to weight loss.
by rapidfl - I was getting a bit stiff recently and thought it might be old age creeping up.
I started sleeping on the floor for a few nights on a doubled thick blanket for slight padding and after the third night (first two were a little rough) I sprang up like an 18 year old and felt like my posture had been improved all day long.
We spend a lot of time in bed and most beds are too soft and lead to distortions is my current theory. I'm thinking about replacing my mattress with one of those reed mats Japanese sleep on.
by mythrwy - My lower back pain resolved automatically after I lost 15 kgs (100 to 85).by earth-tattoo
- 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.
by ElijahLynn - It's not "probably not" doing anything, it's definitely not doing anything, because chiropractic is quack pseudoscience that has been thoroughly debunked and also has a bunch of other bizarre and fantastical elements to it beyond "cracking your back"by arcfour
- 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.by LeoPanthera
- I've been to wonderful chiropractors and I've been to quacks. The good ones will discuss what's going on and individualize treatment.
The bad ones will kind of just do the same exact routine every time you go there and they'll do the same thing to everyone that goes there -- wham, bam, ty ma'am style -- get you in and out the door as quick as possible! They'll probably pop just about everything they can, which accomplishes not much of anything at all. I guess you'd call that the bruteforce method of chiropracty?
However, a single bad adjustment can painfully linger for weeks.
A good chiropractor for me was Dr. Blake Meyer at DSMCore. He would take a whole half hour and do some targeted deep tissue glute massage and nerve flossing that really helped my sciatica. Then finish up with a few minor adjustments and send me on my way, walking a little taller and straighter and with appreciably less sciatic pain. But don't expect miracles.
I tried a physical therapist near his office but she pushed me too far, too quick and made it worse. So I just stuck with Bob(RIP) and Brad on YouTube and did it at my own pace.
by firebot - 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.by iamthejuan
- 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!
- If a chiropractor could adjust something by pushing on your bone, imagine what tripping and falling would do.by selectodude
- 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.by wahern
- 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.
- Within a few minutes of picking up a guitar my fingers start to stiffen up, I crack them and then all is well, been doing this for 30 odd years now and the joints of my hands are some of the few which don't cause me problems at this point in my life. I never could crack my knuckles before I started playing guitar and if I stop playing for a few weeks, I cease being able to crack my knuckles.
These articles on knuckle cracking never seem to say anything but state, but sort of maybe could be but your aunt is almost certainly wrong unless or maybe in certain exceptions. For the majority of people I think we crack our knuckles for the same reason we often stretch when we get up, it relieves a tension that needs relieving.
by ofalkaed