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Should you stop cracking your knuckles?(bbc.com)
23 points by tchalla 6 hours ago | 28 comments
ElijahLynn 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is good to read about, and nice that it has and research referenced.

It's interesting to know that it's gas collapsing. And nothing to do with the bone rubbing.

And it makes you wonder what chiropractors are actually doing when they're popping your back... It's probably not doing anything to help you with your pain. And it's probably not actually adjusting anything.

PaulDavisThe1st 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I recommend reading up on the actual history of chiropractic ... I've seen articles that seem to make it clear that it was long con right from the start.

I acknowledge that this is not the only view on the history.

chneu an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Its a con that is trying very hard to become legitimate.

Chiros started as a scam, continued as a scam, and are now a widely accepted scam. The legit work they do is often just physical therapy.

Just go to a physical therapist.

burnt-resistor 34 minutes ago | parent [-]

It's a con like osteopathic "medicine". D.O. should be shunned and rejected because it's pretending to be legitimate and/or legitimized.

dghlsakjg 20 minutes ago | parent [-]

DOs are sorta weird in the US. They go to real medical school for 4 years like MDs and practice actual licensed medicine at the same level as an MD. They can even call themselves physicians.

Non DO osteopaths are not trained with any sort of scientifically backed curriculum.

bena 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

“You have a fever because of the ghosts in your bones”

selectodude 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If a chiropractor could adjust something by pushing on your bone, imagine what tripping and falling would do.

BenjiWiebe 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Tripping and falling can mess you up for a long time. And I don't mean broken bones.

bryanrasmussen 18 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I think that's the joke?

danpalmer an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

So can a chiropractor!

wahern an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Chiropratic can help with pain, but not for the claimed reasons. Studies show it's as efficacious as massage therapy. I believe the same is true of cupping. Insurers increasingly cover these sorts of therapies, and primary's increasingly prescribe them, because they're cheaper than a real doctor's time, especially a specialist's, and the patient is more likely to feel better than if they were subjected to a long diagnostic gauntlet with an inconclusive end.

ButlerianJihad 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is a chain of clinics here called "Emergency Chiropractic" and they advertise how they take insurance and get your adverse diagnosis fast, fast, fast.

https://youtu.be/kOzwC5j7UkA?si=sHdHJzzEdn-E2a_N

And their mascot is literally a duck! I think it took me ten years to figure out the quack part here!

LeoPanthera 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's surprising that it's not common knowledge that "Chiropractic" is not medicine, nor a science, and the field is associated with vaccine misinformation and unproven supplements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic

emmelaich 37 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Sadly many universities offer degrees with chiropractic being a major part.

burnt-resistor 24 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Osteopathy makes even bolder claims for similar shit and has been legitimized into the medical community as "equal" to medical doctors.

codetiger an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Another question, has anyone noticed cracking knuckles being contagious like yarning? I often crack my knuckles and quite often see others noticing and doing it themselves.

eth0up 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Bruce Lee cracked his knuckles a lot, and he died in his 30s. He was in great shape too.

But I think it's mostly just escaping gases.

Edit: ^ is my way of asking why this is on HN, which I never do, cause then someone could ask the same about me.

not_a_bot_4sho 24 minutes ago | parent [-]

Yup. Bruce Lee drank water. He died. Anyone who drinks water will eventually die. It's a fact.

abstractspoon 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Betteridge says?

dgritsko 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

TL,DR: No, unless you're doing it so hard that you're straining your joints. But don't crack your neck.

ranger_danger 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> don't crack your neck

The article makes a point to mention specifically that excessive/forceful neck cracking can be dangerous, but then switches to just "Cracking your own neck is not recommended"... but to me it sounds like they're referring more to the forceful kind, such as the manipulations on youtube they reference.

I suppose it's like asking people to stop using q-tips... they're probably not going to, and the amount of people accidentally injured from either seems to be quite low.

s1artibartfast 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Yeah, and with the q-tips, it seems trival to do it safely. For some reason, be aware or careful always gets compressed to avoidance

lokar 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

YouTube has some pretty awful videos of ear canals full of cotton fibers. Touching the eardrum is not the only risk.

sublinear an hour ago | parent [-]

And you think YouTube represents the average user of q-tips?

Even when YouTube has videos uploaded by doctors having to put up with this kind of stupidity, it doesn't change the fact that hardly anyone does that. The vast majority of stuff uploaded to YouTube isn't even that. It's losers trying to get views.

georgemcbay an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> For some reason, be aware or careful always gets compressed to avoidance

The reason is legal liability, generally.

If you sell Q-Tips and tell people to be careful when sticking them in their ears you're likely to be held legally liable when someone isn't careful because there will be infinite wiggle room for them to claim you didn't specify the safe use clearly enough.

If you sell Q-Tips and tell people not to put them in their ear (even though you know that's why most people are buying them) then when someone sues you for messing up their ear you can tap the words on the box and say "well, we told you not to do that".

analog31 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not in my house. It's annoying.

anigbrowl 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I have bad news for you about what happens your joints as you get older

analog31 16 minutes ago | parent [-]

I am older. ;-)