• Question: Is it bad for your bones to click a lot??

    Asked by anon-181537 on 6 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Haragan

      Alex Haragan answered on 6 Jun 2018:

      Generally speaking no. Almost everyone will have joints click at some point. Many people can make their knuckles “crack” when they want. The overwhelming evidence is there is nothing wrong with this. (contrary to some outdated notions, it doesn’t cause arthritis)

      Saying that – it can, rarely, be a sign of hypermobility or connective tissue conditions. What does this mean? Well the majority of the time nothing to worry about – some joints might be able to bend more than normal. In some this might result in easier to dislocate joints, like shoulders, for example.
      I should say (with my doctors hat on) if you are concerned – for example you have joint weakness or it is very painful as well as clicking – talk with your family and visit the GP if needed.

      But clicking joints alone is, the vast, vast majority of the time, absolutely normal and nothing to worry about.

    • Photo: Camille Parsons

      Camille Parsons answered on 7 Jun 2018:

      Alex is completely correct, although previous thought that cracking joints is bad and causes arthritis there is currently no evidence to confirm this. As long as the “crack” does not hurt then there should be no reason why the cracking would cause long term harm.

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