Why do your knuckles pop? (Or any of your joints for that matter). Have you ever made your knuckles crack by pulling your fingers or bending them back? Have your knees, ankles or wrists made a cracking noise on certain movements? Do you know what causes that sound? Joints are the meeting points of two bones. They are held together by connective tissue such as ligaments. All of the joints in our bodies are surrounded by a capsule of thick, clear liquid called synovial fluid. When you pull your fingers to make them crack you are actually pulling the bones apart and as you do so the synovial capsule is stretched. This causes a decrease in pressure within the capsule which inturn causes little bubbles to develop within the fluid. When the joint is stretched far enough these bubbles will burst creating a popping noise. There is no evidence whatsoever that the practise of cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis but there is a danger that habitual knuckle cracking can cause soft tissue damage to the synovial capsule which can lead to a reduction in grip strength due to the rapid and repeated stretching of the ligaments. Also there is evidence to suggest that there is an increased mobility in the joint after cracking/popping. When the joints are manipulated in this way the Golgi tendon organs are stimulated resulting in the muscles surrounding the joint to relaxing.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 11:11:31 +0000
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