Pop... Pop... Pop...

[Scorpiоn]

What is popping AKA cracking?  Like when someone pops their knuckles.  I've heard numerous explanations, all kinds of stuff from air in joints to arthiritis.  All seem designed to scare you into not doing it anymore by overprotective moms.

PS:  As a useless point, I can pop my knuckles, fingers*, elbows, neck, back and toes.  I'm currently working on my knee.

*Figure it this way.  The finger has three bones (as far as I can tell), one being at the tip, two in the middle, and three by the knucke.  I can pop my finger between two and three.

[Craig.]

i can pull my finger out of its socket, or whatever you call it.
i dont know what it is exactly that pops

[OTTOL]

I think it's cartilage or ligaments. I think it's supposed to be bad, because it weakens the attach point to the bone.  ???

[Smoke2much]

It's the ligament in the joint rubbing over the bone.  Yes it is bad for the joint but there is no proof that is the cause of osteoarthritis that I have seen.  It is more painful to do in arthritic joints.

People who can dislocate their joints at will generally have longer and stretchier ligaments than those of us who can't.

And just to scare the sh*t out of those of you who can dislocate your own joints look up Marfan's syndrome and see how many of the other clinical signs you have.......

Will

[Wing Nut]

I've heard several reasons why that happens.  One involves calcium deposits on the joints that snap against each other.  My wife (a Reg. nurse for 14 years) says it has something to do with air bubbles in the joints.  Personally, I just don't know.

[Scottler]

Joints are the meeting points of two separate bones, held together and in place by connective tissues and ligaments. All of the joints in our bodies are surrounded by synovial fluid, a thick, clear liquid. When you stretch or bend your finger to pop the knuckle, you are causing the bones of the joint to pull apart. As they do, the connective tissue capsule that surrounds the joint is stretched. By stretching this capsule, you increase its volume. And as we know from chemistry class, with an increase in volume comes a decrease in pressure. So as the pressure of the synovial fluid drops, gases dissolved in the fluid become less soluble, forming bubbles through a process called cavitation. When the joint is stretched far enough, the pressure in the capsule drops so low that these bubbles burst, producing the pop that we associate with knuckle cracking.


I wish I could say that I knew this off the top of my head.  lol  I knew it was bubbles in the synovial fluid, but the exact logistics of it came from howstuffworks.com

[OTTOL]

Yeah, but just think, when are you ever going to get to use the word SYNOVIAL again?
   8)

[Scottler]

Why do you think I jumped at the chance to use it now?  

[Scorpiоn]

If I could ever get my website up, I'd fill it with this stuff! Isn't knowledge great?

[Hogans_Alley]

I don't believe there is anything wrong with popping your finger joints. As kids we used to to do a contest who could pop their fingers the most numer of times. I could even pop my toes. I don't pop my fingers very often. It is annoying when done in front of people. You notice that once it is popped, it won't do it again until after a while. There is nothing medically wrong  that could happen as  the result. Nor is it the result of any malady like arthritis. What you hear is a snapping sound when the finger joins realign when forced. Speaking of snaping and/or pain, has anyone had "trigger finger"?

Hogans Alley

[Polynomial]

this thread is really disturbing ?