I was asked the other day whether or not it was a good thing to crack your back, neck, knuckles, etc.
I chose to answer the question this way:
Cracking you back,neck,knuckles....whatever...is not necessarily bad. My knees crack in the mornings, sometimes my back cracks when I twist.....I don't pay very much attention to those sounds. However, when I'm out and about, I pay very close attention to any cracking sound. If I'm ever standing on something and I hear a crack I move. Mortars in Iraq landed with a CRACK. If you are ever walking on ice and you hear a crack. my advice would be to take heed and run like hell.
I have since tried to think of a cracking sound in nature that didn't cause me to take heed. I couldn't think of any.
In summation, I don't worry if parts of my body sometimes crack, but I wouldn't go out of my way to try to make it happen.
I know some people cringe at hearing joints crack - my girlfriend is one of them. It does sound a little weird, but I usually get quite a bit of relief from a few cracks. I'm not a habitual cracker, but I do crack some of my knuckles from time to time and I love it when I can crack my back, either from stretches or having someone squeeze me or put pressure on my spine.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that repeated cracking of joints can lead to arthritis. I've also heard that the sound is just a bubble of nitrogen around the joint popping. I don't know . . . I haven't felt any adverse effects of my cracking yet. Just the opposite, my fingers and toes and neck and back all feel much looser and better when I crack them.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has definitive evidence of cracking joints adversely affecting the body.