# Why does knuckle-cracking feel good?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-knuckle-cracking-feel-good/5300>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 13, 1999, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-knuckle-cracking-feel-good/5300 "1999-12-13T17:27:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-knuckle-cracking-feel-good/5300/1 "1999-12-13T17:27:00Z")

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Cecil explains the mechanics of knuckle cracking here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_305b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_305b.html)

But what isn’t addressed is why it feels good. My hands have a nice relaxed feel about them afterwards.

Could there be some evolutionary advantage to knuckle cracking?

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-knuckle-cracking-feel-good/5300/2 "1999-12-13T17:55:00Z")

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I know I love it, even though it annoy the hell out of my wife. She says it’ll cause arthritis, no matter how many articles I find disclaiming that.

She can makes her wrist and ankle bones crack by rotating them heavily. I think it’s the same process making the noise, but I’m not sure. I hope it is, so I can tell her that her ankle-cracking is as bad as my knuckle-cracking, if it’s bad at all.