To Crack Or Not To Crack

As a chiropractor I get clients who come into my office in Roswell, GA and ask me all the time about the safety of cracking joints (especially knuckles) and what exactly the noise is.  Well, here is a great  video from the Weather Channel of all places giving you the answer to both.  In case you don't want to watch the video.  Is it safe to "crack" your knuckles?  Rejoice you popper of the phalanges.....the answer is yes! Multiple studies have been done to show that there are absolutely no adverse effects from cracking your knuckles (or any other body part for that matter).  That leads us to our next question....so what is that noise anyway?  The short answer.....suction.  Yep suction.  At every joint like where the femur meets the tibia (knee joint) there is a joint capsule.  Within every joint capsule is fluid.  The fluid (synovial) is like the consistency of egg.  When the joint is adjusted or (cracked) a cavity is formed within the eggy matrix .  The noise you hear is the suction of the cavity releasing.  So the next time your Grandmother tells you to stop cracking your knuckles because they will get huge and arthritic, tell her that's not a good enough reason anymore and completely untrue.
Here is the link------------------https://weather.com/health/video/is-it-ok-to-crack-your-knuckles
Thanks for reading
-Dr. Wiskind DC, CCSP

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