Is it harmful to crack your knuckles?

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As many parents know all too well, one a child's main reason for cracking his finger knuckles is the fun of seeing grownups cringe at the sound. It turns out that the cracking noise is probably caused by the bursting of bubbles inside your knuckles. To keep the bones that form the knuckles from grating against each other, which is kept inside the joint by stronger membrane. The fluid is filled with bubbles so small that they cannot be seen by the naked eye. As long as the knuckle bone are close together, the fluid is under pressure, and the bubbles remain tiny. But if you clench your fist, the bones pull apart, and the pressure drops. When that happens, the bubbles rush together, coalescing for form one large bubble. As you work your fist, varying the pressure, the big bubbles bursts with a loud popping noise. Doctors are not sure whether or not it is bad for you to crack your knuckles, although some of them believe that frequent cracking makes them large and unsightly.