• Question: I read somewhere that cracking your knuckles doesn't give you arthiritis- is it true or not? if it isn't i will carry on with it but if it is i will force myself to stop !

    Asked by alicejoanna97 to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      As far as I know, cracking your knuckles does not give you arthritis. The noise comes from bubbles of gas popping, apparently. But I HATE it when people crack their knuckles around me, for some reason it makes me really squeamish. So please don’t do it near me!

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      It doesn’t seem to be true. There was a man called Dr. Donald Unger, who did an experiment that took him 50 years. He used to crack the knuckles on his left hand twice a day, but he never cracked his knuckles on his right hand. After 50 years, he didn’t have arthritus in either hand, so it would seem that cracking your knuckles isn’t so bad after all.

    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      There is no evidence that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis:

      http://www.hopkins-arthritis.org/arthritis-news/2007/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis.html

      It is, however, REALLY annoying.

    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Looks like all of the scientists agree on this one. I can’t stand the noise either!

    • Photo: Gioia Cherubini

      Gioia Cherubini answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Sigh, I wish I could stop cracking my knuckles! Even if it seems to not be correlated with developing arthritis, there are other side effects like loss of grip strength or swelling around the joints.

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