Is cracking my fingers really often bad for my playing?

[sv3nno]

Hi.
I have a really bad habit of cracking my fingers - all of them - bending them backwards or clenching them into a fist, i've been doing it for like 3-4 years and i do it really often.... But i've been playing the piano for 10 years(im 15 y.o) and my fingers sometimes feel quite weak, and my playing sounds uneven. Do you think it is bad for my playing? because if it is, i'll stop immediately.
thanks.

[iansinclair]

Well... it surely isn't going to help.  Although I believe that the jury is still out on just how bad it really is.  Point is, even if it is no worse than neutral, it's probably, in the long run, not a good idea.

On the other hand, quitting is not going to be easy!

[teran]

I've been cracking my fingers since the age of about 6 and I don't really see any negative effects.

[outin]

I've been cracking my fingers since the age of about 6 and I don't really see any negative effects.

You don't? 

It is a very annoying habit and even if it doesn't hurt your playing it may hurt your social life at some point...

[teran]

There are plenty of things I've done to achieve that, cracking my fingers is not one of them. :3

[j_menz]

Read this and see what you think:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1004074/

Whatever it's effects medically, it can annoy some people.

[rjarsenault1101]

i crack my fingers. I don't find any difference in my playing.

[andreslr6]

I agree that it will affect more your social skills than your piano playing...

[cjp_piano]

It's not harmful at all. Several chiropractors I talked to agree. It's just releasing air that would otherwise be released anyway.

[starlady]

The sound of cracking knuckles makes me ill.  If you crack your knuckles around me I will chase you out of the room.   There are a lot of people like me in this (although most are probably more polite than I am), so if you can't break the habit, PLEASE don't do it public.   Thank you. --s.

[teran]

Wow I had no idea people were so uptight about knuckle cracking.

Not manly enough obv.

[starlady]

Being or not being manly is, luckily, not one of my concerns  --s.

[soitainly]

 I've been cracking my knuckles for 40 years and haven't noticed any ill effects. If anything, it relieves tension for me, similar to stretching. I guess I wouldn't know if I would need to relieve this tension in the joints if I had never started in the first place.

 I have found that some people are very annoyed with cracking knuckles, I found that out the hard way. But if you are going to run from a room from someones bad habits, you are going to have a hard life. I suppose if your spouse hated knuckle cracking, you would have a problem.