 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-08-20 17:09
How many of us regularly crack our knuckles?
Has anyone ever experienced any ill effects from doing this?
It's a bad habit for me, so much so that I don't realise I do it, only when I see other band members cringe when I do. But for me it certanly makes my fingers and thumbs feel better afterwards.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: joannew
Date: 2006-08-20 17:12
I'm the same way, but I can't imagine it's a healthy habit!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-08-20 17:23
I do it. Twice on each finger (at the connection of the finger and hand, and in the middle of the finger) first thing when I wake up every morning. Sometimes during the day also of I need. I also do it in my feet fingers. I don't know if it is healthy, but I can't see why it's not, since it feels better after doing it, sometimes you even feel you need to do it, but it doesn't come out out, and it hurts until suddenly (sometimes hours later or even a couple of days) it will come out and it stops hurting imediately.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2006-08-20 17:25
Traditionally, it all depends during what part of the piece you are playing when you decide to do it. Much also depends upon the timing, and the rhythmic background. It is especially bad to do during a largo or adagio, but might be perfectly acceptable in a tarantella, for example, or during a piece involving castanets. But don't let anyone try to make you believe, as some may, that it is a valid substitute for staccato....GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: CEC
Date: 2006-08-20 17:26
Hi Chris,
I've spoken to a few doctors and a chiropractor about this very subject. All have assured me that there is no danger in knuckle cracking. If it seems to relieve tension in your hands and you don't feel significant pain while doing it, I wouldn't worry.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sdr
Date: 2006-08-20 17:37
I am also an habitual knucklecracker. A study published in the US medical literature back in the 1980's evaluated nursing home residents who had been habitual knucklecrackers -- the kc's had better joint mobility and dexterity than the non-kc's.
-sdr
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EuGeneSee
Date: 2006-08-20 18:31
My mother used to jump all over me as a kid when I cracked my knuckles. She said that the knuckles would get big and stiff . . . then she would point out old Mr. So-and-so who had badly arthritic hands and tell me he got that way from knuckle cracking. It scared me . . . and still makes me feel guilty when I crack them, so I never do it around my mother.
Eu
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-08-20 18:43
I was told recently it'll make my knuckles wide.
I have yet to see the evidence - my knuckles are still in proportion to my fingers.
If any damage was done, I think I'd have noticed it long ago.
I think the reason why I started cracking my knuckles is because it made my joints feel warm when my hands were cold - I'd interlock my fingers and stretch my hands out in front of me so it bent my fingers back, and this warmed up my knuckles on both hands at the same time.
But after about 30mins. to an hour of oboe or clarinet playing I do need to crack my right thumb at the knuckle where it joins my palm.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Morrigan
Date: 2006-08-20 22:57
I certainly do this too, and often! Up to a couple of times a day. I second what everyone else has said so far - that often I feel I NEED to do it to increase finger dexterity and that it just feels good! I've been doing it for as long as I can remember and I have never had a problem with my knuckles or fingers. I also enjoy cracking my back and toes/feet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: goods
Date: 2006-08-21 01:52
I crack my fingers too but especially the mid section of my thumb on my right hand, which is where i rest my clarinet.
and due to that i have the ugliest looking thumb because the knuckle is so out of proportion to my thumb
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2006-08-21 03:16
I have never cracked a knuckle on purpose.
I used to have to crack my wrists when I was playing Marching Snare a lot (and not properly) but after I learned proper technique I had no problems.
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kev182
Date: 2006-08-21 05:19
Knuckle cracking definetly does have an effect. I knew a girl in my old school who would only crack her right index finger, if you looked at it the knuckle was very different from all the other. It was larger and had a different shape.. this may not be bad.. i dunno
I crack my right thumb out of necessity after practicing long lengths
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-08-21 05:53
I've talked to hand and othopaedic surgeons and OT-s (who specialize in hand work) who happen to be friends of mine about joint cracking in general and they say that it is harmless, unless your spouse gets irritated about it and does something about it.
I have done it all my life, and have only noticed that it is somewhat addictive. If I haven't cracked my joints in a while I don't notice anything, but if I have, then I need to keep cracking them or my fingers feel stiff and unresponsive. I have quite small, thin hands and I would probably notice if one or all of my joints were getting bigger...I'd probably relegate that purported side effect to the "urban legend" bin.
-Randy
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: lifeforms
Date: 2006-08-21 16:28
I crack my joints quite a bit. Specifically most of my finger joints, ankles, wrists. It relieves the tension in them. If I don't then they'll do it themselves, or feel stiff until I crack them. Do it daily for years now, and had no obvious problem with them.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: susieray
Date: 2006-08-21 17:22
I had never been a knuckle cracker until recently; but probably for about the past two or three months I have been doing it maybe twice a day. It makes a lot of noise but it doesn't hurt. The knuckles of my left hand especially seem to feel kinda locked up or stiff and cracking them makes them feel back to normal.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Markus Wenninger
Date: 2006-08-21 18:41
It feels good, actually. Yes, I do it since i was a child, could never do without it. ...Our guitarplayer is always jumping out of her chair when she hears me doing it just before playing,...It relieves tension in my fingers, afterwards they don´t feel sticky or swollen, You know that feeling when you´re about to play, like 'inarticulate fingers', if there ever is such a thing.
Markus
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-08-21 20:43
My girlfriend cracks her sternum. She does this by lifting one arm over her head and bending over backwards. Sometimes she gets a rapid series of three cracks.
No worries.
She doesn't play the clarinet.
.............Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mtague
Date: 2006-08-21 22:06
I'm like lifeform. I crack my fingers and wrists all the time. Ankles when I'm working out or playing soccer. I crack my back and neck quite a bit (mostly because I have an office job and it makes me stiff). If I don't crack my fingers, they'll crack themselves. I feel like it makes them more supple. I do a lot of drawing and art and it can require that my hands be held in faily stiff positions for quite a while, and then I'll have to move on to something like sculpting and I'll need my fingers to be loose and sensitive, so I crack them.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kev182
Date: 2006-08-22 09:56
i know what you mean by inarticulate fingers! i hate that feeling...but thats what we have vade mecum for =D
I crack my back...cracks about 20 times.. i ask my dad to step on my upper back to crack it O_O
its bad
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2006-08-28 04:23
I have a short friend (meaning he's only about 5'2 tall) and as I'm a giant (compared to him) he always asks me to pick him up, from behind, so his back can crack. It totally freaks me out and blisses him out.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
