As a child I remember my mother always telling to stop cracking my knuckles because it would cause arthritis. When your told not to do something by an adult that only makes children want to do it even more. I’ve continued to crack my knuckles since then but only because my hands felt tight and heavy. I crack my knuckles at least 3 times a day not to annoy other people but to relieve tension. The only thing I recognize that is different about my knuckles is that they have gotten darker over the years.
When people crack their knuckles it is because there is a build-up of gas in the joint which causes irritation and stiffness of the joint. The cracking sound of the knuckle is the release of gases that formed a bubble in the synovial fluid which surrounds the knuckle. The release of the gas temporarily relieves tension in the joint until the gasses are dissolved in the synovial fluid again.
There are two main types of arthritis which are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is the swelling and inflammation of the joints which does not have a definite cause. The most common form is osteoarthritis which is caused by the wear and tear of joints over years. This is more common in people over the age of 65. There are different claims about whether or not knuckle cracking is a gateway habit into developing osteoarthritis. The constant cracking and popping of joints causes trauma and stress on the joint over time and could lead to osteoarthritis. A study published in the British Medical Journal indicated that after years of popping his finger joints a man began to have pain in his hand which is a sign of osteoarthritis.
Another study reported in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease preformed a study where 300 people who often cracked their knuckles were observed to see if they would develop the disease. The group of people normally did not experience more cases of osteoarthritis but there were other damages done to the joints. Frequent knuckle crackers have more joint pain, swelling and loss of grip after long periods of popping the joint. Cracking your knuckles does not directly cause arthritis but it will cause problems in regards to hand movement and function the more frequently the joints are cracked.
It is too late for me to stop cracking my knuckles because my body has adjusted to the routine cracking. I crack and pop almost every bone in my body regularly so there is no turning back now.
http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/joint-cracking-osteoarthritis
http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/Holistic-Health/Health-Myths-Center.aspx?ChunkID=156990
http://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthritis-news/knuckle-cracking-q-a-from/
Wow, I never knew cracking different parts of your body could lead to harmful disorders. Thank you for sharing that because I was not aware of the serious damage I could cause to my body by cracking joints. I will think of your response every time I feel the need to crack my neck . Normally I crack my knuckles more frequently than my neck.
I was told by my mother when I was younger to stop cracking my knuckles because it would make my hands ugly, with short fat fingers and large knuckles. It then progressed that I was going to get arthritis but I still was unable to stop and like you it has become a part of my regular routine. I am relieved to hear that my habit will not positively cause arthritis but I have already succumb to other problems with cracking other parts of my body. Like you I crack almost everything at this point, including my neck. I usually do it by pushing my chin to one side and it’s usually when my neck or head is feeling very heavy or stiff. However recently I began to have jaw problems in which it would get stuck or crack loudly and uncomfortably for no reason. It was painful and would cause me headaches and some swelling in my neck, near my lymph nodes. Because of this I went to see a doctor who diagnosed me with TMJ. TMJ is when your jaw slips out of its socket, creating a large popping noise and sometimes can get stuck. He found it strange that I had no specific trauma to the area that caused my jaw to slip out in the first place. Eventually I did mention that I crack my neck and showed him how and he was horrified. He said most likely the cause of my TMJ was cracking my neck and continuing to do it would probably aggravate the area. I now try to do it as little as possible but still find it hard. Although arthritis may not be connected to cracking knuckles I would still be wary of doing it because other strange things can happen. I can’t stop at this point like you but just be careful, you don’t want to wind up with TMJ.
I’ve always believed this common misconception to be true because of my mom’s obnoxious nagging in the past! I’m relieved that it’s not as bad as my mom made it out to be. I still believe that it can’t be all that good for my knuckles just because they aren’t meant to be cracked. I don’t feel the need to “let gas” out of my knuckles, but rather it’s just an unintentional habit that I can’t shake. It’s a good tension reliever, just as Fox says in this article, http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/13/health-myth-is-cracking-your-knuckles-really-bad-for/, it is like stretching the capsules in your joints. What could be so bad about that?!
I was relieved to also find no extremely harmful effects of knuckle cracking. It is just a habit that I can not give up. It is a normal part of my day like blinking is to everyone. I also cannot write, hold objects, type on a computer etc. without having cracked my knuckles at some point in time. Although the studies have shown that there is no relationship between knuckle cracking and arthritis I should still try to limit the habit because of all the other less serious effects like loss of grip over time.
You’re in luck, after consulting different sources I had not found one that directly related knuckle cracking to arthritis. However, I also found a report from the Annals of Rheumatic Disease used in an article done by Samuel Merrit University (http://www.samuelmerritt.edu/president/news_room/jun_2010/should-you-stop-pop-knuckle-cracking-ris) reporting that, “They found that 84 percent of long-term knuckle crackers experienced hand swelling later in life, while only 6 percent of noncrackers did.” Be careful!