About

I started cracking my knuckles at about age ten when an older boy in my neighborhood showed me how he did it.

For quite a while, getting popping sounds from my fingers was fun.
We would even have friendly competitions on who could get the most cracks and the loudest ones.

But the more I engaged in the activity, the more I found that I “needed” to crack my knuckles to relieve the pressure in my finger joints. Even worse, the more I cracked my knuckles, the more ways I discovered how to crack my knuckles – which led me to “need” to crack my joints in many different ways.

The habit became a vicious cycle. I cracked my knuckles to relieve the pain that cracking my knuckles was causing.

Even though I understood intellectually that the habit was causing the pain, I repeatedly failed to gain control over my knuckle cracking.

Some days were worse than others.

Sometimes it was a particular finger joint that needed repeated cracking.

Albert Einstein, who seems to be quoted more than most people – and on just about every topic – had this to say:

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I would tell myself that if I could just get one good round of cracks in, my fingers would be relaxed enough and I could just stop cracking my knuckles for good.

Well, it’s been almost fifty years since I first started cracking my knuckles.

That sounds just like Einstein’s definition of insanity to me.

So, I began experimenting with ways to reduce my dependency on knuckle cracking to relieve the joint pain in my fingers. I had some small successes at first but, mostly, each technique worked for just a short time. Then, discouraged, I’d fall back into the habit with what seemed like even less control than before.

But I really had no choice: my habit was destroying my fingers. I was losing a great deal of hand strength, my habit interfered with activities I found pleasurable like reading, playing with my children, going to the movies, even sleeping. And it was socially embarrassing for reasons that are probably already obvious to you.

Even though I had plenty of reasons to stop cracking my knuckles, (the pain, social embarrassment, the bad example I was setting for my children, and my desire to get relief) I just could not stop.

After a great deal of soul-searching, I realized that, to help myself break the knuckle-cracking habit, I needed a higher goal. I needed to help others do the same. And before I could help people free themselves from the endless cycle of knuckle cracking and improve their lives, I would need to prove for myself that it was possible.

So I began observing my own knuckle cracking habit.
I paid close attention to the times of day and the social situations when I felt the urge to crack my knuckles the most. And those occasions when I hardly ever thought about it. I read everything I could. I studied, experimented and took notes. I even paid attention to what I was eating to see if there was a link.

I started compiling a list of the practices that seemed to be successful in shifting me away from unconscious and habitual knuckle cracking.

When I set out, my intention was to help us end our knuckle cracking habit. What I learned along the way, and what I believe you will learn as well, is that we are so much more powerful than we ever dreamed possible. And that this is just the beginning.

Thank you for wanting to help yourself end a habit that you no longer want.

All the best,

Evan Mandel