WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Knuckle Cracking

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff, Josh, Chuck. Cheerry's

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<v Speaker 1>sitting in for day, So this is short stuff. Chuck.

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<v Speaker 1>I have a question for you. Are you cracking your

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<v Speaker 1>knuckles right now?

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<v Speaker 2>I am. Did you hear that?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that wasn't like a like a foldy effect.

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<v Speaker 2>No, I was cracking my knuckles. I'm a knuckle cracker.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't do it. I did it a lot when

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<v Speaker 2>I was a kid, but I still do it some.

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<v Speaker 1>This is what my knuckles sound like when I crack them.

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<v Speaker 1>That's it the Yeah, I can't do it again because

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<v Speaker 1>I have to wait twenty to thirty minutes for the

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<v Speaker 1>airbus to come back and cavitate once more.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we'll tell everybody what's going on here. What I know.

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<v Speaker 2>There was a lot of you know, when you're young,

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<v Speaker 2>everyone was like, it'll give you arthritis, and it's your

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<v Speaker 2>your bones grinding together, and that's what racking your knuckles

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<v Speaker 2>as and that can't be good for you.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, if your bones ground together, you would not be

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<v Speaker 1>able to think of anything else but your bones grinding together,

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<v Speaker 1>because you would be in so much pain that you

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<v Speaker 1>would know your bones are grinding together. That's not what

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<v Speaker 1>cracking your knuckles is it turns out instead, it has

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<v Speaker 1>everything to do with the space and the area around

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<v Speaker 1>where your bones come together. Your bones don't actually come.

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<v Speaker 2>Together, that's right, where there's a joint that is where

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<v Speaker 2>two bones meet, but they're separate and they're held together

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<v Speaker 2>by ligaments and connected tissues and all that stuff. But

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<v Speaker 2>there's also some a very other key ingredient in there.

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<v Speaker 2>It's called synovial fluid. It's a thick, clear liquid that

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<v Speaker 2>kind of encases that area, right.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's thick, it tastes just like orange crush CRUs surprisingly.

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<v Speaker 1>And when you pop your knuckle, what you're doing is

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<v Speaker 1>stretching or bending the ligaments and connective tissues and the

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<v Speaker 1>cyanoval fluid there too. Right. So when you do that,

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<v Speaker 1>that capsule is what it's called the connective tissue capsule

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<v Speaker 1>that includes the synovial fluid. It gets stretched, which increases

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<v Speaker 1>its volume, and then suddenly the pressure inside the capsule

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<v Speaker 1>in that synovial fluid it goes down. It decreases in pressure,

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<v Speaker 1>which means that all these gases that used to just

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<v Speaker 1>be part of the solution now are part of the problem.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean now turn into bubbles.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. So they become you know, they form those bubbles,

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<v Speaker 2>and if you stretch that joint far enough, like you know,

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<v Speaker 2>trying to crack your knuckles, the pressure in the capsule

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<v Speaker 2>goes so low that it just pops those bubbles. And

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<v Speaker 2>that's the popping sound that we're hearing.

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<v Speaker 1>There, you go, not your bones rubbing together? Okay, I

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<v Speaker 1>want you to go to recess and tell your friends

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<v Speaker 1>that is not your bones rubbing together.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And then the cavitation you mentioned earlier, I think

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<v Speaker 2>before we break, we should just clear that up. You

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<v Speaker 2>said twenty to thirty minutes. That is how long it

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<v Speaker 2>takes for that gas to reach dissolve into that joint fluid,

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<v Speaker 2>and uh, cavitation is is possible again.

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<v Speaker 1>My knuckles?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh I just did one again. Okay, I say we

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<v Speaker 1>take a little break and come back and talk about

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<v Speaker 1>how we know that cracking your knuckles doesn't give you arthritis.

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<v Speaker 3>All right, we'll be right back, Chuck.

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<v Speaker 1>I know we've talked about this guy before, doctor Donald Unger.

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<v Speaker 1>I think we did a video about him, but he

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<v Speaker 1>you know what, I'll bet we talked about him in

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<v Speaker 1>the Ignoble Prize episode because he won an ignoble for this,

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<v Speaker 1>butentually he conducted an experiment for sixty years because he

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<v Speaker 1>wanted to prove his mother wrong. And he only cracked

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<v Speaker 1>the knuckles and I think his left hand never cracked

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<v Speaker 1>him on his right hand.

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<v Speaker 2>It's crazy.

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<v Speaker 1>And then after sixty years he finally said, okay, it's

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<v Speaker 1>time and he x rayed his hands.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, if he didn't have the compulsion to crack his knuckles,

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<v Speaker 2>I could see how this happened. But if you are

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<v Speaker 2>a knuckle cracker, you're kind of you feel compelled to

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<v Speaker 2>do it. So I can't imagine what it would have

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<v Speaker 2>taken to not crack the knuckles on one hand for

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<v Speaker 2>that many years. It must have been really tough. Yeah, sure,

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<v Speaker 2>that's my guess. So, yeah, he did this over his lifetime.

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<v Speaker 2>He x rayed himself on the rag and eventually, decades later,

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<v Speaker 2>came to the conclusion that he doesn't have any arthritic

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<v Speaker 2>difference in his hands.

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<v Speaker 1>Case closed, he had nad no arthritic difference.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not to say though, that even if you don't

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<v Speaker 1>get arthritis from cracking your knuckles. It's another thing you

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<v Speaker 1>can tell your friends at recess, did they even have

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<v Speaker 1>recess anymore. I guess maybe yeah, our long screen time.

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<v Speaker 2>No, they have recess, Okay, great.

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<v Speaker 1>There is damage that you can do from cracking your

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<v Speaker 1>knuckles habitually. There was a guy named Raymond Broder and

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<v Speaker 1>he examined three hundred people who crack their knuckles to

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<v Speaker 1>look at what their joints looked like, and compared to

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<v Speaker 1>the control group, no difference with arthritis. Again, but there

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<v Speaker 1>was other damage like soft tissue damage to that the

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<v Speaker 1>ligaments and the synovial fluid capsule, and that they had

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<v Speaker 1>a decrease in grip strength. So if you crack your

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<v Speaker 1>knuckles a lot, like don't even think about holding a

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<v Speaker 1>glass of water with just one hand.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, which you know as you age, grip strength is important.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's definitely not a harmless thing. There's some other

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<v Speaker 2>possible side effects, something called ligament laxity, which is basically

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<v Speaker 2>looseness over time. If you're just doing this a lot,

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<v Speaker 2>that that's what leads to the reduced grip strength and

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes sort of overall hand function. I think in rare cases,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're if you have a really weird method or

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<v Speaker 2>forceful method, or you're a little too aggressive with it,

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<v Speaker 2>you can get some soft tissue swelling around the knuckles

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<v Speaker 2>in the joint.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and you can just straight up injure yourself. If

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<v Speaker 1>you you can like dislocate a joint, you can injure

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<v Speaker 1>your tendons. And even if you don't straight up injure yourself,

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<v Speaker 1>just habitually cracking your knuckles over time, the stretching of

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<v Speaker 1>the ligaments can it. Like you said, the grip strength

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<v Speaker 1>thing is a is a big deal, just even without

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<v Speaker 1>cracking your knuckles. So it also happens in pictures too,

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<v Speaker 1>major league pictures, imagine minor league pictures too. But over

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<v Speaker 1>the years, just throwing over and over and over again,

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<v Speaker 1>they're stretching those ligaments suddenly violently basically, which is kind

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<v Speaker 1>of what you're doing when you crack your knuckles. They're

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<v Speaker 1>just doing it with different ligaments. But that is why

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<v Speaker 1>Oral Hirsheiser's right arm just dangles uselessly at his side

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<v Speaker 1>because it's been ruined. He ruined it pitching.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, I know you're kind of kidding, but

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<v Speaker 2>sad but true. Like, especially these days, there's been more

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<v Speaker 2>and more instances of Tommy John surgery being required because

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<v Speaker 2>pitchers are throwing harder and harder and if you're not,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, able to get it near one hundred miles

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<v Speaker 2>an hour these days, you're not gonna have much of

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<v Speaker 2>a chance. So it's a real problem in baseball.

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<v Speaker 1>Bring down from my joke.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I just love that you love saying Earl Hirschheiser.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure, who oughtn't say?

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<v Speaker 2>Boy? He was great? There was a study in nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>ninety that confirmed the grip strength thing. I think they

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<v Speaker 2>study seventy four people who regularly crack their knuckles, and

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<v Speaker 2>their average grip strength was definitely lower, and they had

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<v Speaker 2>more instances of hand swelling than the two hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>twenty six people who did not crack. And another interesting

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<v Speaker 2>thing is they found that in another study that if

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<v Speaker 2>you're a habitual knuckle cracker, you are more likely to

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<v Speaker 2>be a manual laborer, more likely to bite your nails

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<v Speaker 2>as I do, smoke cigarettes which I don't, and drink

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<v Speaker 2>alcohol which I do.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so you know three for five.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah I don't manual labor so okay too, shouldn't count

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<v Speaker 2>that one.

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<v Speaker 1>So there is some benefits to actually cracking your knuckles though, too.

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<v Speaker 1>We're not just hating on cracking your knuckles. There's something

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<v Speaker 1>called the Goldie tendon organs, not the Goldie apparatus. That's

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<v Speaker 1>a different, different episode altogether. The Goldie tenon orggans sense

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<v Speaker 1>muscle tension, and when you crack your knuckles, you're actually

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<v Speaker 1>relieving some muscle tension, So the muscles around the joints

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<v Speaker 1>when you crack them get relaxed, so you can feel like,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, your your hands feel pretty mellow after cracking

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<v Speaker 1>your knuckles. I saw it described as yoga for your knuckles.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh interesting, yeah, I thought so too, So like getting

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<v Speaker 2>your back cracked or.

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<v Speaker 1>Something basically, yeah, but for your knuckles.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we found one more thing, you know, Like I'm

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<v Speaker 2>at the age where you know, if I kneel down

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<v Speaker 2>to get something, you're gonna hear a couple of snap

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<v Speaker 2>crackle and a pop maybe. And then from some part

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<v Speaker 2>of my body.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you make an involuntary sound too when you're getting up?

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<v Speaker 2>I do, oh oh yeah, like oh god, here we.

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<v Speaker 1>Go, yeah, something like that, like you can't not.

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<v Speaker 2>Do it, yeah for sure. And when I walk downstairs,

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<v Speaker 2>my right ankle, like on every step just goes pop

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<v Speaker 2>pop pop. So those things happen. I don't think anyone

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<v Speaker 2>knows exactly where that comes. From theirs speculation. It could

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<v Speaker 2>be just like you know, if it's your knee, it

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<v Speaker 2>maybe your kneecap rubbing on the bones or something like that,

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<v Speaker 2>or maybe a tendon sliding over a bumpy surface or

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<v Speaker 2>something like that. So I don't think it's anything to

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<v Speaker 2>be alarmed about.

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<v Speaker 1>It is alarming, though, for sure.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because it comes with age. So every new pain

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<v Speaker 2>and sound is like, huh, that didn't happen a few years.

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<v Speaker 1>Ago, Exactly, I should go sit down for a while, right,

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<v Speaker 1>you got anything else for short stuff? Guy?

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<v Speaker 2>I got nothing else. I can't crack my knuckles. So

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<v Speaker 2>oh wait, there went one recavitated.

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<v Speaker 1>So what does that mean?

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<v Speaker 3>Though?

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<v Speaker 2>I think that means short.

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<v Speaker 3>Stuff is out.

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