How and why did you start cracking joints?
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When I was in junior high school a friend of mine who was a year older could crack his knuckles and some other joints and sort of chuckled at me because I couldn't. I worked at it for a week or so and finally got some meager pops out from my knuckles. Then my friend informed me he had stopped because he learned that "it irritates the joint bursae". (He was fairly serious for a junior high-schooler – went on to get a Ph.D. in Chemistry). By then, however, I was hooked.
Now I'm in my 40s and still crack on a daily basis. Quite frankly I would like to be able to stop, but I haven't had the willpower to do so. The knuckles on my hands are quite large, but I realize there's no good evidence that the cracking caused this.
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Through this site, actually. I discovered it out of curiosity then tried some of the techniques I saw. I now crack my back, neck, knuckles, thumbs, toes, backs of my hands, knees, and shoulders(very loudly).
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I got into it when I first got into boxing and sports back in elementary school. I found it kept my body limber along with a vast array of stretching exercises. For me it became just an automatic "limbering" activity. I often catch myself unconsciously cracking my fingers just by clenching my fists if I suspect a strenuous activity or event is going to occur. I have such good finger dexterity I can drum with my fingers so that each touches down in consecutive order making a loud noise on any given solid object, so each finger in order comes down 3 or 4 times a second.
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Fascinating topic! Thanks for starting this poptastic!
I already posted my joint cracking history in a thread called 20 year long term observations which is of course still valid.
In summary, I started joint cracking because of initial discomfort with bent knees as a kid and I did so independently with no role model.
Personally, the experienced physical joint cracking desire which drives me to crack my joints over and over again out of will, is highly annoying to me, exactly because it is not in my full control. I regard it as a life interacting addiction driver I intend to terminate. This site is a project of mine to learn more about this in general and of course to enable others to do the same. As an informed "joint cracker" you are in a good position to decide in which direction you want to walk for yourself.
I have reduced my own cracking a lot and now "use" it mostly for relaxation and not as much out of a mindless compulsion like before.
Therma, thanks to you I realized for the first time my site also can serve the purpose to encourage others to start cracking.
It makes sense that the swapping of joint cracking techiques does encourage others to try them out. And of course I do not really know if it is bad or not. For example it appears to be common health practice in China.
I just hope you do not pick it up as an addiction which gets out of hand! Take care!This community has certainly showed me how vastly different it is. Everyone has his or her own needs. Some really want to stop, some need these techniques to counter-balance injuries from sports and for some others it just feels good with no negative side effects whatsoever.
I'm kinda glad this community supports all these different needs. This way we can learn a lot from each other. Thanks again for contributing to all of you!
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I started because of a Bill Nye the Science Guy video we watched in my class in fifth grade. There was a short section on knuckle cracking, and what makes the noise, and I tried cracking my own knuckles. I haven't stopped since, and that was 8 years ago. Fairly recenty (last year or two) I began cracking my toes, though I don't crack then nearly as often as my knuckles. Occasionally I feel the need to crack my knees, but that's even less common.
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ennaxor, thanks for your post.
Do you remember exactly why you started cracking your toes? Did you initially feel discomort in your toes or did cracking come first?I really don't remember why I did start cracking these. I guess some day I punched my feet on the floor in anger which cracked them. I liked the sensation and kept at it.
Never ever did I have a role model on video or in real live. I learned all of this myself. Can't say I'm proud of this achievement. :roll:
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I'm not sure, but I think the cracking came first.
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I learned how to crack in fourth grade. I was sitting next to some kid and he started cracking his knuckles. I asked him how, and he showed me. My dad would also crack my knuckles all the time when I was young (I hated it when I was real little). I started by only pulling out my first, middle and ring fingers on each hand. I would probably only do it three or four times a day. In sixth grade, the guy's brother taught me how to crack my back and my neck. Now, I crack my knuckles all the time (all fingers, except I have trouble with my pinky). I also crack my back, neck, toes, knees, elbows, and sometimes I can get my wrist to crack. I do it compulsively, and it annoys my mom! 8O I tend to feel the urge to crack whenever I see someone else do it…
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It's kinda funny. As a little kid, my dad would crack my knuckles while we were watching TV. I kept up with the habit and as I got older started cracking other areas. I don't crack my knuckles much any more.
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I started in the 6th grade i was someone else do it and i started wondering how they did it so i kept trying until it worked then i started trying to crack in different directions and then i went on to other joints i would eventually like to stop but i can't seem to because sometimes i don't even notice when i crack them it's like a reflex kind of…i don't know
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My cracking started when I was in concert rehearsal. Hours of sitting in a chair and playing music- something happened one night that frightened me. Out of no where my sholder cracked while I was turning a page of music. It felt very funny and tingly. When I found out I could do it again and again…I did it again and again. Then came the toes and knuckles and ankles and back...
ps that was 11 years ago.
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My brothers learned how to to crack their knuckles when I was in 1st grade, and my mother would help me crack my back from as far back as I remember. I learned the thumb-joint pop from a basketball coach, and the finger-tip crack from a girl in math class. Alot of people have so many ways to crack weird stuff.
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I was about 11 12. I first saw my father cracking his fingers. I wondered how he does that and quickly figured it out.I have been cracking various joints in my body ever since…(for about 20 years now)
