Does Cracking Your Knuckles Cause Any Long Term Effects?

Question by jeherohaku: does cracking your knuckles cause any long term effects?
i crack my knuckles a lot when im nervous and i have heard a lot of different things about it, but ultimately that is doesnt cause any long term side effects. is this true? and what about if i pop the tendon over my middle knuckle out of place? would that cause any bad things?

Best answer:

Answer by Sack Lunch
The only long term effect is having more friends. Because everyone knows that all the cool kids crack their knuckles.

Answer by july
Cracking your knuckles doesn’t cause long-term effects; that “crack” is the sound of gas in the synovial space around the joint. Theoretically, after decades of knuckle-cracking you can have some osteoarthritis from wear and tear on the bones, but that’s what the synovial membrane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synovial_membrane is there for–to protect the joints.

Popping tendons, however, can stretch and injure them. Tendon damage is long-term damage, because tendons and ligaments take a very long time to recover from injury. And since you also have tendons and ligaments in your fingers and hands, very vigorous knuckle-cracking can also theoretically damage them.

My Answer? Crack away, but don’t mess with your tendons.

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