Sometimes adjusting the joints in your fingers can be very beneficial. The honest answer to this question lies in the details. This dark circle is the bubble formation that would cause the audible pop associated with a chiropractic adjustment or cracking your knuckles. As the finger is pulled, you can see a small, dark circle form within the joint of the finger. You can see in the video below, which is a video MRI of a finger joint being adjusted. This popping sound has a big fancy name to it called tribonucleation and has been studied in MRIs! When the joint is stretched enough, a bubble within the synovial fluid forms, which causes a popping sound.

When your joints stretch, it changes the pressure within the synovial fluid. Synovial fluid has many of the nutrients that your bones need to stay healthy, and through the movement of those joints, the fluid transfers nutrients to the surrounding bones of the joint. Joints connect these bones, and the joints in your fingers are called synovial joints.Ī thick tissue capsule surrounds synovial joints, and they contain something called synovial fluid. When your knuckles crack, it is the same thing that happens when a Chiropractor adjusts you if you have neck pain or low back pain.Įach finger has three bones in it, except your thumb, which only has two. Is this true? Is cracking your knuckles bad for you? Will it give you arthritis? What Is Happening When you Crack Your Knuckles? One day, a parent or grandparent catches you doing this they whack you on the wrist and say, “don’t crack your knuckles! That will give you arthritis”. It is a new and exciting feeling, and now you want to do it more!īefore you know it, you are doing it at school, around the house, playing sports, playing video games, when you get nervous and before you go to bed. Think back… you are an adolescent, and it is the first time you discovered that if you bend your fingers in a specific direction, they will pop.

Knucklecracker blog