1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff, Josh, Chuck. Cheerry's 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: sitting in for day, So this is short stuff. Chuck. 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: I have a question for you. Are you cracking your 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: knuckles right now? 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 2: I am. Did you hear that? 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, that wasn't like a like a foldy effect. 7 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 2: No, I was cracking my knuckles. I'm a knuckle cracker. 8 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 2: I don't do it. I did it a lot when 9 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 2: I was a kid, but I still do it some. 10 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: This is what my knuckles sound like when I crack them. 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: That's it the Yeah, I can't do it again because 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: I have to wait twenty to thirty minutes for the 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: airbus to come back and cavitate once more. 14 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll tell everybody what's going on here. What I know. 15 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 2: There was a lot of you know, when you're young, 16 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 2: everyone was like, it'll give you arthritis, and it's your 17 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 2: your bones grinding together, and that's what racking your knuckles 18 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 2: as and that can't be good for you. 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: Yes, if your bones ground together, you would not be 20 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,759 Speaker 1: able to think of anything else but your bones grinding together, 21 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: because you would be in so much pain that you 22 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: would know your bones are grinding together. That's not what 23 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: cracking your knuckles is it turns out instead, it has 24 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:20,919 Speaker 1: everything to do with the space and the area around 25 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: where your bones come together. Your bones don't actually come. 26 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 2: Together, that's right, where there's a joint that is where 27 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,639 Speaker 2: two bones meet, but they're separate and they're held together 28 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: by ligaments and connected tissues and all that stuff. But 29 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,639 Speaker 2: there's also some a very other key ingredient in there. 30 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 2: It's called synovial fluid. It's a thick, clear liquid that 31 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 2: kind of encases that area, right. 32 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's thick, it tastes just like orange crush CRUs surprisingly. 33 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: And when you pop your knuckle, what you're doing is 34 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: stretching or bending the ligaments and connective tissues and the 35 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: cyanoval fluid there too. Right. So when you do that, 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: that capsule is what it's called the connective tissue capsule 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: that includes the synovial fluid. It gets stretched, which increases 38 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: its volume, and then suddenly the pressure inside the capsule 39 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: in that synovial fluid it goes down. It decreases in pressure, 40 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: which means that all these gases that used to just 41 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: be part of the solution now are part of the problem. 42 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: I mean now turn into bubbles. 43 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 2: That's right. So they become you know, they form those bubbles, 44 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 2: and if you stretch that joint far enough, like you know, 45 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 2: trying to crack your knuckles, the pressure in the capsule 46 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 2: goes so low that it just pops those bubbles. And 47 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 2: that's the popping sound that we're hearing. 48 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: There, you go, not your bones rubbing together? Okay, I 49 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: want you to go to recess and tell your friends 50 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: that is not your bones rubbing together. 51 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 2: Yeah. And then the cavitation you mentioned earlier, I think 52 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 2: before we break, we should just clear that up. You 53 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 2: said twenty to thirty minutes. That is how long it 54 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 2: takes for that gas to reach dissolve into that joint fluid, 55 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,119 Speaker 2: and uh, cavitation is is possible again. 56 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:10,519 Speaker 1: My knuckles? 57 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 2: Yeah? Exactly. 58 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: Oh I just did one again. Okay, I say we 59 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: take a little break and come back and talk about 60 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: how we know that cracking your knuckles doesn't give you arthritis. 61 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 3: All right, we'll be right back, Chuck. 62 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: I know we've talked about this guy before, doctor Donald Unger. 63 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: I think we did a video about him, but he 64 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: you know what, I'll bet we talked about him in 65 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: the Ignoble Prize episode because he won an ignoble for this, 66 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: butentually he conducted an experiment for sixty years because he 67 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: wanted to prove his mother wrong. And he only cracked 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: the knuckles and I think his left hand never cracked 69 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: him on his right hand. 70 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 2: It's crazy. 71 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: And then after sixty years he finally said, okay, it's 72 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: time and he x rayed his hands. 73 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, if he didn't have the compulsion to crack his knuckles, 74 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 2: I could see how this happened. But if you are 75 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 2: a knuckle cracker, you're kind of you feel compelled to 76 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 2: do it. So I can't imagine what it would have 77 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 2: taken to not crack the knuckles on one hand for 78 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 2: that many years. It must have been really tough. Yeah, sure, 79 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 2: that's my guess. So, yeah, he did this over his lifetime. 80 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 2: He x rayed himself on the rag and eventually, decades later, 81 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 2: came to the conclusion that he doesn't have any arthritic 82 00:04:58,440 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 2: difference in his hands. 83 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: Case closed, he had nad no arthritic difference. 84 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 2: That's right. 85 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: That's not to say though, that even if you don't 86 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: get arthritis from cracking your knuckles. It's another thing you 87 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: can tell your friends at recess, did they even have 88 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,359 Speaker 1: recess anymore. I guess maybe yeah, our long screen time. 89 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 2: No, they have recess, Okay, great. 90 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: There is damage that you can do from cracking your 91 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:29,480 Speaker 1: knuckles habitually. There was a guy named Raymond Broder and 92 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: he examined three hundred people who crack their knuckles to 93 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: look at what their joints looked like, and compared to 94 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: the control group, no difference with arthritis. Again, but there 95 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: was other damage like soft tissue damage to that the 96 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: ligaments and the synovial fluid capsule, and that they had 97 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: a decrease in grip strength. So if you crack your 98 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: knuckles a lot, like don't even think about holding a 99 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: glass of water with just one hand. 100 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, which you know as you age, grip strength is important. 101 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 2: So it's definitely not a harmless thing. There's some other 102 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 2: possible side effects, something called ligament laxity, which is basically 103 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 2: looseness over time. If you're just doing this a lot, 104 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 2: that that's what leads to the reduced grip strength and 105 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 2: sometimes sort of overall hand function. I think in rare cases, 106 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 2: if you're if you have a really weird method or 107 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 2: forceful method, or you're a little too aggressive with it, 108 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 2: you can get some soft tissue swelling around the knuckles 109 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:29,839 Speaker 2: in the joint. 110 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can just straight up injure yourself. If 111 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,679 Speaker 1: you you can like dislocate a joint, you can injure 112 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: your tendons. And even if you don't straight up injure yourself, 113 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: just habitually cracking your knuckles over time, the stretching of 114 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: the ligaments can it. Like you said, the grip strength 115 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: thing is a is a big deal, just even without 116 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: cracking your knuckles. So it also happens in pictures too, 117 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: major league pictures, imagine minor league pictures too. But over 118 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: the years, just throwing over and over and over again, 119 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: they're stretching those ligaments suddenly violently basically, which is kind 120 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: of what you're doing when you crack your knuckles. They're 121 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: just doing it with different ligaments. But that is why 122 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: Oral Hirsheiser's right arm just dangles uselessly at his side 123 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: because it's been ruined. He ruined it pitching. 124 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I know you're kind of kidding, but 125 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 2: sad but true. Like, especially these days, there's been more 126 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 2: and more instances of Tommy John surgery being required because 127 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 2: pitchers are throwing harder and harder and if you're not, 128 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 2: you know, able to get it near one hundred miles 129 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 2: an hour these days, you're not gonna have much of 130 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 2: a chance. So it's a real problem in baseball. 131 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: Bring down from my joke. 132 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, I just love that you love saying Earl Hirschheiser. 133 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: Sure, who oughtn't say? 134 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 2: Boy? He was great? There was a study in nineteen 135 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 2: ninety that confirmed the grip strength thing. I think they 136 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 2: study seventy four people who regularly crack their knuckles, and 137 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 2: their average grip strength was definitely lower, and they had 138 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 2: more instances of hand swelling than the two hundred and 139 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 2: twenty six people who did not crack. And another interesting 140 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 2: thing is they found that in another study that if 141 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 2: you're a habitual knuckle cracker, you are more likely to 142 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 2: be a manual laborer, more likely to bite your nails 143 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 2: as I do, smoke cigarettes which I don't, and drink 144 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 2: alcohol which I do. 145 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,079 Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know three for five. 146 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 2: Yeah I don't manual labor so okay too, shouldn't count 147 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 2: that one. 148 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: So there is some benefits to actually cracking your knuckles though, too. 149 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: We're not just hating on cracking your knuckles. There's something 150 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: called the Goldie tendon organs, not the Goldie apparatus. That's 151 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: a different, different episode altogether. The Goldie tenon orggans sense 152 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,319 Speaker 1: muscle tension, and when you crack your knuckles, you're actually 153 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: relieving some muscle tension, So the muscles around the joints 154 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: when you crack them get relaxed, so you can feel like, 155 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: you know, your your hands feel pretty mellow after cracking 156 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: your knuckles. I saw it described as yoga for your knuckles. 157 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 2: Oh interesting, yeah, I thought so too, So like getting 158 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 2: your back cracked or. 159 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: Something basically, yeah, but for your knuckles. 160 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, we found one more thing, you know, Like I'm 161 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 2: at the age where you know, if I kneel down 162 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 2: to get something, you're gonna hear a couple of snap 163 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 2: crackle and a pop maybe. And then from some part 164 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 2: of my body. 165 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: Do you make an involuntary sound too when you're getting up? 166 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,719 Speaker 2: I do, oh oh yeah, like oh god, here we. 167 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 1: Go, yeah, something like that, like you can't not. 168 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 2: Do it, yeah for sure. And when I walk downstairs, 169 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 2: my right ankle, like on every step just goes pop 170 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 2: pop pop. So those things happen. I don't think anyone 171 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 2: knows exactly where that comes. From theirs speculation. It could 172 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 2: be just like you know, if it's your knee, it 173 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 2: maybe your kneecap rubbing on the bones or something like that, 174 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 2: or maybe a tendon sliding over a bumpy surface or 175 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 2: something like that. So I don't think it's anything to 176 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:10,959 Speaker 2: be alarmed about. 177 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: It is alarming, though, for sure. 178 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, because it comes with age. So every new pain 179 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 2: and sound is like, huh, that didn't happen a few years. 180 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: Ago, Exactly, I should go sit down for a while, right, 181 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: you got anything else for short stuff? Guy? 182 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 2: I got nothing else. I can't crack my knuckles. So 183 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 2: oh wait, there went one recavitated. 184 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: So what does that mean? 185 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:33,080 Speaker 3: Though? 186 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 2: I think that means short. 187 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,479 Speaker 3: Stuff is out. 188 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 2: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 189 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 2: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 190 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.