Does Knuckle Cracking Lead to Arthritis?

Many of us have grown up with bad habits, for some it is nail biting, for me it is cracking my knuckles. When I was younger I was always told that doing this would cause me to have arthritis when I was older. However according to an article on oregon.providence.org this may be just an old wives tale.

First to explain where the cracking noise comes from as stated by Dr. Peter Bonafede, medical director of the Providence Arthritis Center, the cracking noise is caused by a change in the fluid that surrounds the joints, called synovial fluid. This change is caused by the spreading of the joints that occurs when the fingers are bent to crack them allowing an air bubble to get into this fluid and then burst, thus creating the cracking sound. Now the definition of arthritis according to Mayoclynic.oknuckle-cracking-1024x786rg is “inflammation of one or more of your joints”. With all of this considered it makes sense that there could be a connection between these two things, however studies suggest otherwise.

Dr. Bonafede mentions a study in the oregon.providence article in which the hand function of 200 adults was studied, 74 of these adults were habitual knuckle crackers. The study concluded that these adults were not more likely to develop arthritis; however they were more likely to have swollen hands and reduced hand strength. Another study mentioned in an article on bidmc.org published in the Annals of Rheumatic Disease conducted with 300 adults also reached the same conclusion.

Assuming these studies were well constructed the question arises, is 500 people total enough? If these studies involved thousands of people would they have different findings? Also, another point to consider is the age group; the first study mentioned was conducted with adults age 45 and older. In the bidmc.org it states that arthritis is very common in adults 65 and over, so adults in both of these studies could have just developed arthritis because they were older. What if a study was conducted on college aged adults who have been cracking their knuckles? Would it conclude something different about this age group? Both of these studies were also only conducted with subjects that cracked their knuckles, what about other parts of the body, such as the toes? Would these parts produce a different result?

Multiple studies have concluded that cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis. This, however, does not mean that everyone should go out and pick up a knuckle cracking hobby. In this situation it is pretty likely that those who habitually crack their knuckles will have some type of damage later in life which will make it hard to use their knuckles and subsequently fingers. When the risks and benefits of this habit are weighed there are many risks and virtually no benefits, maybe it’s time to pick up a new hobby.

11 thoughts on “Does Knuckle Cracking Lead to Arthritis?

  1. Nicole Glass Post author

    Tiffany, thank you so much for that article! I have been trying for so long to figure out how to break this habit and I think I am going to try some of these techniques.

  2. Nicole Glass Post author

    Gregory, I see what you’re saying about knuckle cracking potentially leading to other problems, such as tendinitis. I read your article and this just proves how little is actually known about this hobby that so many people have. I think it’s really important to think about what you may or may not be cracking when you crack your knuckles and what type of damage the cracking is going to cause.

  3. Nicole Glass Post author

    Alyssa, I completely agree with you. I don’t think any of the studies I have found nor any of the others mentioned in the links in the comments on this post can really give a solid answer to this question. This is a hard thing to study since none of the studies can be experimental because no one wants to voluntarily crack their knuckles if it has a risk of causing arthritis or other types of damage. So this leaves observational studies which would most certainly take years to conduct and the results of these studies could potentially be affected by third variables among other things.

  4. Nicole Glass Post author

    Andrea, I see what you’re saying about the age it makes sense that older people are more at risk for arthritis to begin with so by using older people in a study they leave the chance that third variables can interfere with the results.

  5. Andrea Marie Linn

    As someone like myself who has arthritis I have always been worried about this situation. When I was younger, I did believe this, but now that I am older and hearing that it is not the case, stress has been lifted. I think the age group that a study is done one is probably the biggest factor. There are many other things like third variable that could contribute to why someone has arthritis; not just because they cracked their knuckles a lot. I think that people should try to stop cracking their knuckles. Allowing the fluid to be cracked over and over can’t be good. Nothing points to or correlate with knuckle cracking leading to arthritis. It might cause something else, but not arthritis. Nonetheless, cracking your knuckles could be relieving but for those around you it may be irritating.
    http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/Holistic-Health/Health-Myths-Center.aspx?ChunkID=156990

  6. Patrick Emil Jackson

    I think this is a very interesting topic given the widespread “threat” that a person can develop arthritis from cracking knuckles. However, just because there may be a correlation between knuckle cracking and inflammation, does not mean that the action can cause arthritis. Dr. Bonafede’s study that you examined concluded that adults who cracked their knuckles were more likely to develop swollen handed and reduced hand strength. In a similar study on this specific topic, investigators studied the hand function of over 300 patients and concluded that habitual knuckle cracking does indeed result in functional hand impairment, but not hand osteoarthritis. Interestingly, they linked habitual knuckle cracking to nail-biting, smoking, drinking alcohol, and manual labor. Like you said, it might be time to pick up a few new hobbies.

  7. Alyssa Marie Gregory

    I always crack my knuckles and just had to read this. While there is a correlation between cracking knuckles and having joint issues I think we have to put our thinking caps on and acknowledge the fact that this does not mean causation of arthritis. Growing up the doctor would always tell me that cracking my knuckles doesn’t really mean I am going to get arthritis, although it may contribute to it it will not be the over all cause. In the end though , I think if we were given more information and a well conducted experiment on this topic we would then be able to come to a more solid and supported conclusion. All in all, it is safe to say that cracking your knuckles doesn’t really cause arthritis but then again in the science realm you may never know. Just like when Andrew told us people used to think that smoking wasn’t bad for you and was actually a good thing. According to this article though cracking your knuckles doesn’t cause arthritis but I still think this is something that should remain up in the air for years to come http://oregon.providence.org/location-directory/p/providence-medical-group-arthritis-center/forms-and-information/ask-an-expert-knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis

  8. Gregory Joseph Macqueen

    I also have been cracking my knuckles for years now. My mother has been telling me for years she doesn’t want to hear me cracking my knuckles and that I should stop so I don’t get arthritis. When I asked my doctor about it he also said that it will not lead to arthritis. It seems as though there might be some correlation between cracking knuckles and having knuckle inflammation or tendinitis but majority of the evidence points to knuckle cracking not causing arthritis. I think we need to get more information on this topic to be sure that what we know so far is correct but for now cracking knuckles is neither harmful nor hurtful.
    http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/joint-cracking-osteoarthritis

  9. Ann

    I’ve been cracking my knuckles for a long time and I always feel like my hands feel looser after cracking my knuckles. My mom always used to tell me it would give me arthritis but I asked my doctor during one my annual visits, and he said it actually doesn’t cause arthritis. Time Magazine did an article explaining the effects of cracking knuckles. Overall, it doesn’t seem to cause arthritis. If it allows someone to feel more comfortable in their daily lives, and there’s no real harm from it, I say crack on!

    http://time.com/3529225/cracking-knuckles-arthritis/

  10. Tiffany Elizabeth Breon

    So this blog post caught my eye because as a child, my caregivers always told me that if I didn’t stop cracking my knuckles, I’d “surely have arthritis” by the time I was 40. Now to be fair, I did crack my knuckles quite often…alarmingly often….so I could understand why it was of so much concern to get me to stop. After hearing that I could potentially have some hand issues in the future, I decided to stop. The thing is, I found it excruciatingly hard to stop doing it, something about it had become addictive. It was almost like a nervous habit – in fact, I still do it to this day, just not as often. The question that arose while I was reading this was how on earth do I quit once and for all since there are still drawbacks to constant knuckle cracking ? I did some research and I came across this article – http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Cracking-Your-Knuckles – on how to stop cracking knuckles. So for all my fellow compulsive knuckle crackers out there, there’s the link that can lead to your freedom.

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