Knuckle cracking as it relates to bad-assery
 

Maybe i'm missing something obvious, maybe i'm thinking about it too much...

why is it in those kung fu or bruce lee movies that when they're about to fight they crack their knucles or neck? usually while they're staring each other down or whatever they try to intimidate the other guy by slowly cracking their joints... i just don't understand the purpose. what does that have to do with anything?

if ability to crack joints is a sign that a large amount of ass can be kicked... then i've got a decent ufc career in front of me.

i crack my nuckles to get them loosened up and when i sense a fight i will crack them because i dont want them stiff, so i guess thats like intimidating them if you do it in front of them to show you are serious about throwing some.

It's an intimidation tactic. If you remember from your younger days (or maybe yesterday, if you still watch them) the teen-ish television shows. When the bully was about to pound ass, he always cracked his knuckles. Why is this intimidating? I dont know. I'm indifferent to it, except when people crack their necks. That's kinda creepy sounding.

I think RespectThat kinda hit the nail on the head. You crack joints to loosen them up. This becomes especially important in an impending fight. You don't really know a fight is impending unless you're standing right in front of the other guy. Thus, I propose that cracking your joints started as a simple by-product of being in fights, but gradually grew in importance to its current level of intimidation.

yeah. Like rotating your ankles and loosening the knees so that when you need to kick someone's head off you don't hurt yourself ;-)

The "Crack" apparently occurs when gas is sucked out of the synovial fluid in the expanding joint. It gives roughly 20% extra mobility to the joint, which is why pianists do it too. Apparently, the story about it causing arthritis is a myth, but if done habitually it does lead to thickened cartilage around the cracked joints later in life, which reduces mobility slightly.

I know this because I'm a habitual knuckle cracker, and read up on it when I got the opportunity :)

I'm doomed to reduced mobility!!!! I crack my knuckles probably every hour or so.

Me too. It's not drastic at all, just slight and it happens much later in life.

You won't lose the use of your hands, you'll just be a lesser piano player ;)

I'm a guitarist, and that's why I do it, too.