hey all you crackers out there. i'm in med school focusing my work on joints … i have a hypermobility joint disorder that is pretty severe and becuase of that (diagnosed at age 16) i have focused my life on helping people deal with joint pain etc etc..
basically i wanted to post this little note here to let you all know the dangers of cracking your joints. first off, when a professional cracks a joint they zone in on one area and crack a single joint.... when you do it yourself you sublux the joint above and below the joint that actually needed cracking therefore in the long run making thigns worse off.
joint cracking isn't a bad thing as you are just releasing air pockets formed between certain joints BUT, cracking really fast or way too often can lead to ALOT of damadge.
what i have seen??? the worst of it, is neck cracking. I know it's hard to stop doing, believe you me i know the claustrophobic feeling refraining from cracking a joint can cause... BUT please if you stop cracking anything, let it be your neck. in my days here working i've crossed paths with 4 patients that have had strokes from simply cracking their necks! i'm not here to scare you into stopping, but if you try to stop anything stop the neck cracking...
for the rest of your joints, just make sure when you do it you do it in a slow manner, anything too fast will allow the joint to rub and will speed up the time you have left before arthitis kicks in.
i mean, who am i to come on this site and tell you not to crack anything, i just felt i should let you all know what i know... and maybe it will do something.. and sure, i'm kinda a hypicrit because i too crack ALOT of joints daily.. but being educated and staying away from cracking your neck (so worth paying a chiropractor to crack your neck once a week to not wind up a stroke victim) ... just think about it.
feel free to ask me anything you like, or comment on what i've said...
safe cracking!