Crabgrass by Tauhid Bondia for January 05, 2024

Miles, you’re too young. Only old people should whine about the knuckle cracking noise. “Back in my day…”

I’ve been cracking my knuckles since I was a kid. Usually against someone else’s skull, but hey, I can understand why some people consider that annoying.

I totally agree with Miles there; I too hate that sound. I don’t see the appeal of cracking your knuckles.

Did that. Then discovered I could crack my neck. Great office/party trick. Then the headaches started. Saw a chiropractor who did an adjustment and strongly advised me to stop it. Did so. No headaches since then. Still crack my knuckles though (don’t tell my wife..)

I’ve heard that if you can crack your knuckles, that’s actually not a good thing because the bones aren’t set tightly enough, as in, just out of position. (See darkwingdave’s comment)

There’s another sound to be made, offending the ears and the nose to follow!!

As far as I know I can’t crack my knuckles, plus I don’t know why I should.

Why do people hate knuckles cracking?

I’ve heard that knuckle cracking leads to arthritis in later years.

I hate having to listen to many sounds as well. So, #relatable.

“According to Joseph Medellin, M.D., a sports medicine physician with Henry Ford Health, the cracking sound happens when you stretch or bend your finger bones backward, pulling them apart. This increases the space between the joints and causes gas bubbles to burst in the fluid that lubricates the joints. (That’s called synovial fluid.) You can’t crack the same knuckle again right away because it takes time for the gas bubbles to reaccumulate.”

While irritating, it’s not harmful, he says

You knucklehead!

Crackers be krakin’.

I started cracking my knuckles as a teenager…now I feel I have to do it whenever they feel tight. And then arthritis started in a few years ago…I wish I had never started.

I’ve never cracked my knuckles, and I still have arthritis. I tried cracking them just now, and could not do it.