I've injured two knuckles trying to get them to crack when they wouldn't. Eventually I broke the habit of cracking knuckles at all to prevent further injury.
For those who read about the doctor who popped one hand with no issue is only a sample size of one and he only popped the knuckles on that hand once a day. When I started trying to break the habit I was tracking and I'd often crack a single knuckle 30+ times a day and did for 20+ years.
Crack responsibly, unlike me, and you're probably fine.
Jeez dude. I'm a habitual knuckle cracker but it's pretty easy for me to tell when it will or won't and never needs more than slightly firm pressure.
It was more like I could tell it would pop but it just needed a like more pressure. Popping knuckles stretches the tendons and my guess is since I was going it so much I stretched them so far that I had to push my fingers too far to get them to pop.
How did you eventually break the habit? I've found it the most difficult thing to stop, because I do it when I don't even realize.
I kept track of every single knuckle pop, so if I popped one whole finger it would be 3 pops. I started by measuring my baseline and then setting goals. If I made my goal that day I could do something nice for myself like play video games or get desert with my family.
Took me almost 2 years.
And for 3 to 4 years after occasionally I'd have nightmares that I started popping them again. And over that same time period as winter would approach the desire to pop them got really intense.
Yeah what's it's fucking problem man, you know you want to crack, you're just being a dick on purpose... Don't make me break you again.
Can you pop your thumb bone? Not the normal one but the one down by your wrist? That's the one right there
Take your thumb and put it just above the joint(towards the top of your finger)
Now take your pointer finger and rest it under the first joint of your thumb. The tip of your pointer finger should just about be at the webbing between your thumb and other pointer finger. You should now have a finger on either side of the "thumb bone" and on opposite ends.
Gently apply pressure with your holding thumb downwards. Not the thumb that is being held. It should have about a half centimeter of wiggle room before it pops.
You can also pop the last joint in your thumb by cradling it similarly, titling it 90° from the rest of the thumb, and pulling away from the hand. This technique works on every finger tip.
... I'm... I discovered something new my body can do. I'm very unsure how I feel about this discovery.
You saw this meme and immediately cracked your fingers didnt you?
