Should You Stop the Pop? Knuckle-Cracking Risks
Feb 21, 2010; 9:57 AM ET
As a lifelong knuckle cracker, I've heard the spiel dozens of times-you know, keep popping and you'll end up with arthritis . Because of this, I've always kept an eye out for any proof that'll prove my naggers wrong. Unfortunately, all I've figured out over the years is that there's a lot of conflicting information out there when it comes to the harm that popping our joints causes.
More than a few times, annoyed parents and teachers have told me I'll end up with old, arthritic hands if I continue cracking my knuckles-but so far, my fingers look no worse for the wear. Is it really a bad choice for our joint health? Does it actually (crossing my crackable fingers) help us? Is repetitive cracking risky? In an attempt to get to the bottom of the situation, I consulted medical authorities for their take on cracking.
"The jury is still out on whether cracking joints is a harmful or benign process," says Lindsay Segal, a graduate practitioner in Samuel Merritt University's physician assistant program. But as it turns out, studies have shown a few reliable connections between knuckle cracking and some particular joint-related problems.
What's in a Pop?
First, I figured I should find out a little more about my knuckles. Like all joints, they're the place where two bones come together to allow movement-we have them in our wrists, knees, and everywhere else we can bend. Tough, flexible tissues called ligaments hold them together. Joints are covered with a capsule filled with a special kind of liquid, called synovial fluid, that acts as a lubricant as we move around; they also contain small amounts of dissolved gas, which is what causes that pop when we crack them.
"The noise you hear with the cracking of a joint is due to a sudden release in joint pressure," says Segal. "This releases the dissolved gases in the joint fluid." This explains why we can't pop and pop and pop-the gas has to build up again before it can be released, which takes about twenty minutes.
Allie Firestone for DivineCaroline.com
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