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Ottawa Chiropractor Health and Wellness Blog

Growing up, I was often told to NEVER crack my knuckles, otherwise I would one day end up with arthritis in my hands. At 6/7 years old, this scare tactic worked well and I managed to avoid that so called “bad habit” (for the most part). To this day, my knuckles remain perfectly functional and don’t appear any different than any other persons!  

 When I went to see my first ever Chiropractor, I noticed that during my adjustment, I could hear and feel that same “cracking” sound being released from my spine. Logically, I came to the belief that getting adjusted could lead to arthritis, just like cracking my knuckles.

 This is a surprisingly common belief. I often get asked during a person’s initial consultation whether or not long-term chiropractic care can lead to arthritis of the spine.

So… is it true?!

 NO!

 The cracking/popping sound that you hear when you crack your knuckles is a formation of gas within the joint cavity. The gas is no more significant than any other gases released from the body.

 A group of researchers in New Zealand have extensively studied the effects of the “cracking” sound that occurs during a chiropractic adjustment. All of the evidence tells us that the release of gas from the spinal joints, creating that ‘pop,’ doesn’t matter at all. In fact, there is no scientific difference between adjustments during which you hear a release, compared to those where you don’t hear any gas release.

At Arc of Life, we use several chiropractic techniques that don’t cause a ‘popping’ or ‘cracking’ sound during the adjustment. Does this mean that the adjustment is less effective? Not at all! The adjustment does not need to cause a release of gas in order to improve spinal function. In fact, these techniques are ones often used on children and pregnant women, because of how extremely specific and precise they are!

 Many studies have been done to see whether or not the knuckles of a routine “knuckle cracker” for years and years look any different than the knuckles of people who never purposefully crack their knuckles. The x-rays of both groups of people are the same! There is no change to the bones, and no osteoarthritis forms from cracking your knuckles!

 The release of gas from a joint space has been given a scientific, fancy name: Tribonucleation. Next time that your friend, brother or child cracks their knuckles, give them a high five for a great tribonucleation and pass on this fun tidbit of knowledge!

(learn more by visiting haavikresearch.com)

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