Tendonitus is caused by cracking joints: fact or fiction?

[HearWa]

My grandfather often tells me he got tendonitus in his wrists/hands by cracking his wrists when he was younger. Now, given every joint in my body can crack involuntarily plus the fact that I'm only nineteen, is this true?

[IronFist]

I hope not. My knees crack every time I bend them and they've done so since I was in 6th grade (I'm 23 now).

[Chief Fox]

false. tendonitis is an overuse injury and is caused by tiny tears in the tendons. If you don't ramp up your workouts slowly you will be more suseptable to tendonitis. I'm sure your grandfather is a great guy but in this case he's wrong.

[Ford Prefect]

Depends. Some obsessive crackers bend their joints into too extreme a ROM to crack them. Generally, cracking joints is harmless though.

[HiddenShadow]

what about cracking your own back? I do this, usually, a couple times a day when my back stiffins up alittle. Is it a bad idea to be your own chiropracter? I've been doin it for years and Im unable to recall any problems thus far.

[HearWa]

I crack my back as well. A Sifu at my federation once performed some back-cracking method on me that released alot of tension.

Basically he'd bear-hug me from the back and pick me up by bending backwards. Listning to your spine crack like that is an odd feeling, but it sure feels good afterwards!

[PangQuan]

this is false

[Samurai Jack]

The cracking noise occurs when bursa, tiny pads which are filled with fluid, are compressed and respositioned between a joint. The bursa help to cushion the spaces between joints.

So you move a joint in a wider range of motion than usual, and the bursa make a popping noise. The repositioning helps to relieve the pressure that misaligned joints place on your nerves.

If you happened to irritate or rupture the bursa with a movement that is too extreme, you will cause bursitis, which is simply swelling and irritation of the bursa. So cracking your joints is not bad for you unless you are taking the movements beyond whatever your body is able to withstand. In that case, you would know it right away because it's very painful to rupture bursa. Either way, cracking your joints has nothing to do with tendons, tendonitis, or artheritis.

[HearWa]

Originally posted by PangQuan
this is false This is good!:D

[HiddenShadow]

excellent...very good to hear, indeed