Knuckle Cracking and Bad Science

I came across a research article this week that dispelled a few myths. The article was entitled "Knuckle Cracking and Hand Osteoarthritis" and was published recently in the The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. What this article found was that, despite what our mothers have been saying, chronic knuckle cracking does not lead to arthritis. I wonder if a similar study has been done regarding self "cracking" of the neck?

 The urban legend that cracking the knuckles leads to arthritis can be lumped under the heading of bad science. Unfortunately much of the explanation model for fascial work and myofascial release comes under this same heading. The folks involved with the International Fascia Congress are spearheading the push toward combining what is effective in practice with what can be shown to be true. Unfortunately there are those who are still following a trajectory of using invented pseudoscience to further their cause. What is even more troubling is that therapists swallow this garbage. How self superior some are to say that all of medical science is so far behind the times, and that they don't truly understand how the body/fascia works.

 Question authority, even when authority comes from sources who paint themselves as rebels.

by Walt Fritz, PT