The idea for the project was born when Nanaimo chiropractor Jerome Fryer approached Kawchuk about a new knuckle-cracking theory. They decided to skip the theories and, with U of A colleagues Jacob Jaremko, Hongbo Zeng, Richard Thompson and Australian Lindsay Rowe, decided to actually look inside the joint.
But to find an answer, the team needed someone capable of cracking knuckles on demand—a job that fell to Fryer himself. Kawchuk said most people have the ability to crack their knuckles but unlike most, Fryer can do it in every finger, and after the standard recuperation time, he can do it again.
“Fryer is so gifted at it, it was like having the Wayne Gretzky of knuckle cracking on our team,” says Kawchuk.
Scientists have calculated that the amount of force at work when you crack your knuckles has enough energy to cause damage to hard surfaces, yet research also shows that habitual knuckle cracking does not appear to cause long-term harm. Those conflicting results are something Kawchuk and his team plan to investigate next.
In addition to solving the riddle of finger cracking, the team’s data revealed the presence of a white flash that appears just before cracking. No one has observed it before, says Kawchuk, an occurrence he believes is water suddenly being drawn together just before the joint cracks. Kawchuk said he’d like to use even more advanced MRI technology to understand what happens in the joint after the pop, and what it all means for health.
“The ability to crack your knuckles could be related to joint health,” said Kawchuk, who believes this work could have implications for other joints in the body, including the spine, and help explain why joints become arthritic or injured.
“It may be that we can use this new discovery to see when joint problems begin long before symptoms start, which would give patients and clinicians the possibility of addressing joint problems before they begin.”
University of Alberta...Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine...'Pull my finger!' say scientists who solve knuckle-cracking riddle
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