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Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

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Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#51
post #41

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'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 Li…

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Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#52
My grandpa (he was 10 when he was liberated from the Nazis by the US and remaining French troops) told me that a French general would always crack his wrists when someone didn't hurry up. Sometimes with drastic consequences. That is my memory of his story about it, whenever I hear that..

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#53

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 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.

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#54

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 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.

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#55
post #53

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 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 awa…

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Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#56

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.

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.

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#57
post #56

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.

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 accomp…

All chiropractors are quacks. The whole thing is based on quackery.

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#58

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.

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"

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#59
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.

Re: Should you stop cracking your knuckles?

#60
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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. I…

> They are mostly just practicing physical therapy without a medical license

Oh, well as long as they're only practicing medicine without a license, I suppose that's okay then...

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