Is bone 'clicking' bad for you?

[stinkingbishop]

DS (20) does this ALL the time and has for years. His neck, fingers, various assorted bones...can snap them. Really loudly. It is incredibly irritating...but is it doing him any harm? Is it a signal of something being wrong? Would love a legitimate reason to order him to pack it in!!!

Plus, obviously, as his loving mother am also concerned for him too!

Yes.

My sister clicks her fingers and knuckles. She has now got the start of arthritis, her fingers turn blue when it's cold and some days she can't move them at all. She is 25.
Doctors say it's because she has cracked her knuckles for years that caused this.

I go to see a chiropractor on a regular basis and she says that the 'cracking' noise is just a release of gases in the joints and says perfectly harmless.

No, it's not.

I want to know the answer to this question .I have always been told it causes arthritis but when I did it by accident when I went to see my osteopath, she said, 'Are you doing my job for me.' Didn't think to ask her why and haven't seen her since!

Penguin - sounds like raynaud's more than cracking knuckles!

I crack my knuckles. I also have raynauds syndrome, but I don't think the two are connected.

My DS(19) does this all the time too. I sometimes think he just does it to freak me out. He cracks his knuckles, his toes, his elbows, his neck... He says he likes how it feels .

I don't think it does any harm, though.

You are simply moving the joint to it's end of range and releasing a bit of air which makes the pop. Having stiff joints that never get moved to their end of range is far worse for you.

No, it doesn't. My ex is a rheumatologist and he confirmed that it's a myth. Penguin, what kind of doctor was it that told your sis it had caused her arthritis? GPs can often be out of date on some areas.

I have always been incredibly clicky. I can click any joint (but try not to in front of others). My fiance is the same.

My neck and back click dreadfully, especially when I have a headache. I've always associated it with tightening up of joints and muscles. It is really, really loud and totally freaky :)

Rats. So I have to just continue with the 'you are making me queasy, DS' approach then...Incidentally, having clicked on the Raynaud's link, he defo has that too. He has these very very long fingers that just go freakishly white and blue. But it seems there's not much to be done with that. Apart from wearing gloves. Which he will never do. Because he's DS .

No it isn't and it is usually the tendons/ligaments/soft tissue that is making the snapping/popping sounds anyway, or so my doctor told me.

Dd2 is ridiculously clicky, you should hear her walking upstairs!

Wild it was just a Gp she went to see. I'll pass on the info. Thanks

Cracking joints causing osteoarthritis is a myth.