Does Cracking Your Knuckles Really Lead to Arthritis?

Posted 07-20-2009 12:13 am by
Remember your mother always telling you not to crack your knuckles because you will get arthritis?

Though there has been no direct evidence that people who crack their knuckles are more apt to get arthritis than people who don’t, there are no benefits from cracking your knuckles either, and worst of all, cracking your knuckles sets you up for some potential health threats to your fingers and hands in general. When you excessively and habitually crack your knuckles, you are wearing away the cartilage between the joints in your fingers. The loss of the cartilage in between your joints can cause arthritis, though the arthritis is not a direct result of knuckle cracking. Arthritis can also be inherited from your parents or can be brought on by a disease such as Lupus.

A study was done on 300 people who crack their knuckles on a daily basis and non-knuckle-crackers and there was no evidence found that linked the onset of arthritis with only the knuckle crackers.  The ware to the cartilage between joints and the possibility of spraining a finger are greater risks (and very high possibilities) for knuckle crackers more than arthritis. Also, chronic knuckle crackers can experience weakness and limited flexibility later in life from a plethora of cracking to their knuckles.  

Although knuckle cracking may not lead to Arthritis as many of you have been told throughout your life, it doesn’t mean that you should crack ever finger or body part multiple times a day just because you can. Knuckle cracking is bad for your joints overall and should be limited to times when it is needed to loosen up a joint or stiffness only and not made into, or maintained as, a habit.

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