I know that to some people the subject of pain medication is somewhat taboo if not downright scorned at, but recently I began using an over the counter pain remedy, an herbal supplement called kratom. The FDA frowns on it being labeled as a supliment, but in most places it's perfectly legal to purchase and use as you see fit for pain relief and in certain dosages it produces a very opiate-like effect not unsimilar to drugs such as hydrocodone and others. The good news is its not addictive like opiates and it's much cheaper.
You probably won't find kratom at most grocery stores, but it's usually available in places that sell bongs and so on. It's not really smokable, but can be consumed by mixing with water and just drinking it. It's pretty nasty tasting, but beats pain.
I've found several online sources where it's much cheaper than what's sold in stores.
I began taking it because of the problems with opiates, addiction and so on. It's great for pain and if you have ever been through opiate withdraw it stops the withdraw symptoms cold.
Kratom is a leaf grown and harvested mostly in southeast Asia closely related to the coffee plant.
A few links
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sagewisdom.org/kratomguide.html&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi3s4iFxIfKAhWGNSYKHfrJBKMQFggLMAA&sig2=6t7J7kOv8u26UdXcH8JoqQ&usg=AFQjCNHNRvdMyNGx2hQbxRRZut3s-0Y8kA

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitragyna_speciosa

Throughout my life I've had to overcome heroin addiction, but something that I found is that joints crack much easier when you're under the influence of opiate pain medication. Now that I'm older and actually prescribed pain medication it makes certain joints crack so much easier. I have to admit that I like the feeling of opiates so I really have to be careful because I have the tendency to want to overdo it, but has anyone else found that opiate pain medication makes joint cracking easier? At night in bed when I can feel the medication in my body is when I can really let the joints really relax and pop with regular frequency.

I used to be able to crack my jaw by gently biting down on a pencil, but it no longer works for me. I think it is a result of losing certain teeth and now that I have no teeth at all except for my dentures cracking my jaw is probably lost as a fond memory. I can still make noise rubbing tendons against cartledge, but it's not the same. Now all that's left is the ability to crack it mentally. I suppose that I can say that I crack my brain. In certain circles that might be construed in a not so positive light.

I agree. There needs to be established criteria of what constitutes a crack vs just making noise and those found to be in violation of the established criteria should immediately be boiled in 8 month old yak urine in public, slapped daily and twice on Sunday.

Maybe I'm over reacting just a tad ..

Who gets excited whenever you find a new joint that you can crack and it's one that you can repeat every time? If it's a one shot deal for me I'm not impressed, but when I can repeat it daily I get pretty excited. I don't throw a big party over it or anything like that, but somewhere down deep inside me I privately go YEY!
A few years ago I found that by pressing outward on the large joint in my big toe it'll pop the joint that connects the big toe foot bone to the rest of my foot.
I suggest a bone anatomy chart or image with labels so explaining such joints and procedures to others would be easier. Does any such files exist on this site and if not then why? I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in having the never ending, burning desire to proudly show off the oddball joints that I discover that are recrackable.

So recrackable isn't an actual word, but for the purposes of this site it should be. LOL

I pop my shoulders by raising my arms above the rest of my body and simply push upwards. I don't have to brace against anything or leverage against anything. I suppose it amounts to knowing which muscle groups to relax and which to flex I couldn't begin to explain how I do it, but it works. Actually it was only recently that I realized that I could even pop my shoulders . I'm probably a bit odd, but I get pretty excited whenever I find a new joint that I can pop and am able to repeat over and over.

I reckon not, eh? I wake up every day and have to go through the routine of noise making with 15 joints in each hand, my wrists, shoulders then knees (two ways) ankles then each toe.. I used to be able to crack my spine, but somehow that disappeared and became painful, but at one point I had counted 63 individual points on my body that would easily pop or crack. The latest count was 54 and not a day goes by without the sacred routine. Because I'm 56 and have lead a fairly tough life I've been injured more times than I want to remember so some of those injuries have caught up with my joints so some of them simply will no longer pop or crack.
My favorite time to crack is at night laying in bed and quite often I'll wake up several times throughout the night for another round of noise.
I feel almost blessed in that my 'significant other', the woman of my life finds it far more amusing than my ex wife who complained about it.
Does popping joints cause arthritis? Absolutely not. If it were true then I wouldn't be able to move a single joint in my body because I've been doing this now since I was a small boy. In fact I'd venture to say that if anything popping joints helps to prevent arthritis and I have my share of arthritis that was one of those genetic gifts from both of my parents.
I've got plenty of theories about popping joints and even have my own criteria of what actually constitutes cracking a joint vs just rubbing cartledge against bone or what have you. I have my favorite joints and some that I pop just as a matter of routine. My left ankle pops much more freely than the right and the toes on the right have to pop by pulling rather than leveraging as in the case of the left.

Well anyway …I look forward to discussing our fabulous and unique form of entertainment and stress relief so stay tuned and thanks for this forum being in existence. I thought that I would have to create a forum for this, but now I don't have to.

Marty