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Knuckling Cracking Research – Not a Popping Bubble, But Gas Cavity Creation

Three Chiropractors on the Research Team

  • DrTirpak

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by: DrTirpak posted: April 23, 2015

Gas Cavity in the MCP Joint after Knuckle Cracking

New research partially funded by the Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation (CCRF) documents with MRI images the source of the audible portion of cracking a knuckle.

Throw away your idea of an existing bubble popping and replace it with a new gas cavity being formed, called tribonucleation. Tribonucleation occurs when opposing surfaces resist separation until a critical point where they separate quickly creating a sustained gas cavity. The journal PLoS ONE in January published Real-Time Visualization of Joint Cavitation which details how the gas cavity forms in the synovial fluid.

Chiropractors love joint noises, so it seems very fitting that three of the researchers hold a Doctorate of Chiropractic. Greg Kawchuk, DC, BSc, MSc, PhD, currently holds the position of Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta and Chair of the Research Council for the World Federation of Chiropractic. He explains in interviews that knuckle cracking does not harm the joints and hope this research fosters the development of a greater understanding of osteoarthritis and other degenerative joint diseases.

  Dr. Jerome Fryer spends most days as a Chiropractor in Nanaimo British Columbia when not conducting research. He not only helped in the creation of the joint cavitation study, but also served as the test subject. Dr. Fryer has probably heard his share of pull my finger jokes as he was positioned prone in the MRI with a string attached to his fingers and had to convey when his joints popped for the study. It is his MCPs in the pictures.

Most Chiropractors should recognize the third Chiropractic researcher on the study, also a Chiropractic radiology legend, Lindsay Rowe, DC, MD, DACBR. He is the co-author of Essentials of Skeletal Radiology (Yochum & Rowe). Dr. Rowe currently serves as Associate Professor of Diagnostic Radiology for the University of Newcastle in Newcastle, Australia and Adjunct Professor for the School of Chiropractic at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.

This rest of the academically diverse research team of professors from the University of Albert included: an MD/PhD radiologist, a material science and biomedical engineer. The video created for the experiment has almost gone viral with almost 900,000 views.

Kawchuk GN, Fryer J, Jaremko JL, Zeng H, Rowe L, et al. (2015) Real-Time Visualization of Joint Cavitation. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0119470. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119470

Filed Under Tags:  Chiropractic Research

Comments

I have also been using the research in "Human Anatomy" by Kent VanDeGraaff, BYU, 1995 WMC., Brown Communications. I love any research on this subject because it is the MOST common question in my chiropractic practice. Del Norte Chiropractic in El Paso TX Thanks.
by: Dr. Mikel Anderson, D.C.

Comment on Knuckling Cracking Research – Not a Popping Bubble, But Gas Cavity Creation

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