Do you pop your knuckles for relief?
So I have psoriatic arthritis (or so I’m told) and towards the end of the day after all of my pain medication has worn off, my hands and feet are always in horrible pain. One of the only ways to calm this pain is to pop my knuckles and pop my toes. As the pain gets worse and worse I can’t pop my knuckles anymore in my joints.
Does anybody else have PsA or rheumatoid arthritis or any other chronic pain disease have to constantly pop their joints to calm the pain? I find that I have to pop my fingers and toes almost every five minutes to provide relief.
If this doesn’t sound like psoriatic arthritis can somebody tell me what they have or if this is something else?
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Great question
! I'm certainly not a doctor, although I plan to ask mine this very same question at my next visit in a couple of weeks. It doesn't matter if it is my back, my fingers, or my toes- I pop them all the time just to get that moments release of the pressure and brief relief from the pain and stiffness.
I have no idea if it is a good thing to do or not...? But if what I've been told since my childhood is correct, we likely shouldn't be doing it. I gather from your question that you aren't convinced that you have PsA? How long have you been popping those joints of yours? -Leanne, PsA Team Member
I have always done the same thing! Especially with my hands, elbows, spine, and ankles. If I can somehow crack/pop them it’s like a breath of fresh air for a moment, just to get a break from the pain. My hands and back are the worst, especially around my neck and wrist area. I’ve always gotten yelled at by my family or friends because they say it’s supposed to not be good for you but I’ll do anything for a couple moments of relief. My knees pop too but I never do it intentionally, generally it just hurts me to pop my knees, even though it does end up feeling a little less stiff afterwards.
I haven't been diagnosed yet, but popping has always helped me. My mom told me once that I've been popping my fingers since I got enough strength to do it when I was a baby/toddler. I must have accidentally done it and have daily since. I pop everything. All of my finger/toe joints, wrists, spine, neck, knees, ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows..literally every joint. I get so stoved up and sore if I don't. I also have scoliosis and a other health and musculoskeletal issues that I'm trying to figure out if are related to PsA, but when I pop my neck a certain way as well as my spine, I can take a couple much full deep breaths and it's amazing.
I forgot to mention this in my last reply, but I've always been curious about this too. Based on being told that popping is not good for you, I've never been sure what to think. I've been told it's an old wives tale by nurses(my mom and a few other nurses) and even a doctor a long time ago, that air gets in the joints and when you pop them, it just releases the air from that joint, as well as realigning them. Something else that has always made me wonder if it's so bad for us, is why are there Chiropractors? I realize they're trained on how to do it safely, but that is still a profession that does what we have been told is bad for us..I could be wrong but it still makes me wonder. What are your thoughts?
