Crack! That’s the sound I love to hear as I pop my knuckles. Now I know that for some, this is the most excruciating sound, and for others it is their biggest pet peeve. We are all entitled to our opinions on knuckle cracking, but I for one am a big fan. I think after a long day of writing, or just a long day in general, coming home and releasing the pressure from your knuckles, your neck, your back, it all feels great. However, I have been warned about this every since I was little. I remember my grandmother telling me that if I continued to do this, I would get arthritis, and she was not the only one to send me this warning. Now as a child, I believed her and was worried I had messed up my fingers forever…Luckily this was not the case. But, I am still curious as to whether or not she was being truthful, or just trying to scare me into stopping. It is possible that she just hated the sound, amongst all the others who told me the same story, and that this was a way to prevent the cracking. I wasn’t certain, but I was determined to discover the truth.
If we read THIS ARTICLE by the Harvard Health Publications we begin to find some answers. They tell us that according to multiple studies, knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis. In reality, cracking your knuckles is basically just releasing the pressure built up in the fluid found in your joints. This is called synovial fluid and it helps show that cracking your knuckles is really not dangerous. However, they do say that it can cause your hands to swell later in your life. I don’t know if I truly believe this, and I hope it is not true because I crack my knuckles quite often. THIS ARTICLE from WebMd also tells us that cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis, contrary to popular belief. They have a theme very similar to that of the Harvard article, and there are many more you can find backing up the theory that cracking your knuckles does not cause any sort of harm, especially not arthritis.
photo found HERE
So I would advise you to continue cracking your knuckles, if that is what you like to do. It might begin to bother those around you, but that is your call. It will not hurt you, it just might annoy your friends!
Photo found HERE
HERE is another link to a fun BuzzFeed video that further explains this point. If you are still questioning the facts, watch this video! It tells you what cracking your knuckles actually does and the evidence backing up the “harmless” theory. I hope this didn’t crack you up too much!
I’m so glad you posted this! I always find myself cracking away at my knuckles, neck and back. It is successful in relieving stress as well as releasing tense joint pain. My mom used to tell me that if I kept it up, I would have arthritis not before long. It’s comforting to hear that there are no detrimental effects to this impulsive habit. Here is an interesting short clip that shows a joint cracking in an MRI.
This article instantly caught my eye because I crack my knuckles often too. I’ve always known it probably wasn’t the best thing to do, but I never really knew what exactly the consequences of doing it were. It was a good informative article, I didn’t know your hands could swell up later in life. I found this cool video that explains why our knuckles crack in the first place.
I was immediately intrigued by this post because I crack my knuckles constantly throughout the day. In fact, I am itching to crack them right now just from reading this post. As a child, my mom told me if I continued to crack my knuckles I wouldn’t be able to wear rings because my knuckles would swell. My grandmother would also warn me about the arthritis myth. I never understood but I frantically obeyed by the rule to stop cracking my knuckles. As I grew older I forgot about that silly, and wrong, idea. Reading this article allowed me to sigh with relief.
It drives me crazy when people crack their knuckles, so I was immediately intrigued by your blog post about cracking knuckles. I remember hearing the classic tale that it causes arthritis and other problems. It does make sense that it could cause swelling later in life, so I would be wary of that. It would also be interesting to conduct an experiment, observing people who have swelled hands and see if they crack their knuckles.
Since I seemed to have messed something up in my last comment, I though I’d post it again, this time without including have my comment as a live link that doesn’t work.
This post instantly attracted my attention because I, just like you, crack my knuckles quite often. I also find relief in letting go of what feels like intense pressure in my knuckles, it honestly makes me feel more relaxed. I also found this post to be intriguing because I too have always worried about whether or not this habit would cause me troubles later on in life. My mom and grandmother would always pester me to stop doing this when I was younger, but I just found it so hard to stop. Consequently, though, it has always caused me a great deal of worry deep down thinking that cracking my knuckles could possibly lead to such a severe health problem as arthritis. After all, my grandmother had really bad arthritis and would always warn me that it was something I never wanted to experience. This article also makes me question as to whether or not arthritis can be hereditary. I found a really great link that can provide you with more information on the topic if you’d like. You can find it here. Another thing I’d really like to add is that I tend to crack my knuckles as a stress reliever, and I get stressed out a lot, so it’s really great to finally read some evidence that suggests that cracking your knuckles doesn’t actually lead to arthritis. Thanks for picking such a great topic to write about, it really provided me with some reassurance on something that I’ve always found troubling.
This post instantly attracted my attention because I, just like you, crack my knuckles quite often. I also find relief in letting go of what feels like intense pressure in my knuckles, it honestly makes me feel more relaxed. I also found this post to be intriguing because I too have always worried about whether or not this habit would cause me troubles later on in life. My mom and grandmother would always pester me to stop doing this when I was younger, but I just found it so hard to stop. Consequently, though, it has always caused me a great deal of worry deep down thinking that cracking my knuckles could possibly lead to such a severe health problem as arthritis. After all, my grandmother had really bad arthritis and would always warn me that it was something I never wanted to experience. This article also makes me question as to whether or not arthritis can be hereditary. I found a really great link that can provide you with more information on the topic if you’d like. You can find it here. Another thing I’d really like to add is that I tend to crack my knuckles as a stress reliever, and I get stressed out a lot, so it’s really great to finally read some evidence that suggests that a crazy habit such as this doesn’t actually lead to arthritis. Thanks for picking such a great topic to write about, it really provided me with some reassurance on something that I’ve always found troubling.
I frequently crack many joints in my body, especially my knuckles and my neck. I remember cracking my neck at work as a cashier last year when a customer pleaded with me to stop. She warned me of a relative who incurred lifelong damage as a result from the habit. Honestly, I don’t believe her at all. Weird people show up at Wegmans all the time. What does interest me, however, is the mass hysteria surrounding knuckle cracking. Why is everyone so afraid of it? I think that a lot of it stems from curiosity. Whenever someone begins to crack their knuckles, everyone else’s attention is immediately converged towards them. This makes the knuckle cracking painful for those watching because they can hear the cracking sound, but cannot feel the relief.
Nice article! Thank you for sharing. When I was in grade school, my sixth grade teacher always warned me about cracking my knuckles and told me that cracking them would cause them to grow and become fat. I never believed her, and always assumed she told me this simply because she seemed to dislike me. After reading this article, however, I am more concerned than I was in grade school. I, myself, have not noticed any significant changes in the size of my knuckles, but I just might have to cut down considering the fact that there is a study on how it does, in fact, cause them to swell later in life. Thank you for your post!
I would suggest limiting your knuckle-cracking as much as possible. Do it when ABSOLUTELY necessary–when you have an irresistible urge to do so, but if it’s not your utmost urge, try to avoid it. This way, you can find some relief when you do it, but minimize the possibility of you having knuckle swelling later in life. I’ve never asked an actual doctor what he thinks about that, so maybe that’s a good place to start. I think it’s a far more reliable method of research than simply composing an internet search.