Cracking your fingers causes an increased chance of developing Arthritis

Question

There is no evidence to support the claim that cracking your knuckles will cause Arthritis. It is simply a popping of a bubble of the synovial fluid. Cracking your knuckles has no positive effect, but it certainly doesn't lead to arthritis. The worst case scenario would be a decrease in grip strength so it is a habit you want to break.

Answer 1

First thing I noticed when fact checking is that this was put out by the Harvard Medical School which seems like it would be a very trusted source to get information from, and after doing more research, they normally tend to be truthful and have backed up evidence behind everything they say. The date on this article reads July of 2020 and I would doubt any new developments have come up since then, so it is still relatively new in this regard. One noticeable thing is that there is no author which means this was conducted by a group of people, which still makes this seem believable, especially since there does not seem to be any biases around the issue with the Harvard Medical School. Lastly, many different trusted sources seem to give the same answer as this article, including Northwestern Medicine, and Houston Methodist.

Comments

How would you rate this claim? Always mention it clearly within your fact-check and select a rating. Also please provide hyperlinks to your sources. Thanks!

Answer 2

The source provided claims that there is no evidence that cracking your knuckles can cause an increased chance of developing arthritis. Instead, it says that, "The "pop" of a cracked knuckle is caused by bubbles bursting in the synovial fluid — the fluid that helps lubricate joints," and while it doesn't have a positive affect, it does not lead to arthritis. The source that claims this is the Harvard Health publishing journal or health.harvard.edu. Harvard is considered to be the number one university in the world for education and research, and the website is also a .edu site. These two facts show that it is a reputable source whose information is backed up and more than likely throughly researched. Another key detail about the article is that there is not one singular author, meaning that it was likely written by a research group which helps balance out bias. When I search up the claim on google multiple other sites also support the fact that cracking knuckles does not cause arthritis, including trusted sources like Northwestern Medicine and John Hopkins Arthritis Center. Also, the article was posted in 2020, which in terms of medical information/studies is rather recent, and therefore also adds to the legitimacy. In conclusion, with evidence from reputable sources, cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis.

Answer 3

The link that is in this post is dead, but the original can be found here: Does cracking knuckles cause arthritis?.

To begin I would like to give credence to the disclaimer found on the bottom of the site:

Disclaimer:

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

The article itself also promotes the purchase of the book: Keep your hands strong, healthy, and pain-free for life.

It is important to analyze the promotions tied to any article regardless of institutional merits.

With that out of the way, the article is short and states that cracking your knuckles does not increase your risk of arthritis but says that chronic knuckle cracking can lead to a decrease in grip strength over time. The evidence leads to another article: Knuckle cracking, annoying and harmful, or just annoying? Searching for evidence in this article leads to a credible study published in The Western Journal of Medicine. This supports their findings, but it was inconvenient to find. This claim is true, but I am disappointed in the organization of the piece.

Answer 4

According to this article by the John Hopkins Arthritis center there has been no evidence linking the habitual cracking of one's knuckles to joint damage such as arthritis. Alas they do state that some studies have found a connection between knuckle cracking and damage to the ligaments and tendons around the joint, though these seem to be rarer cases and not taken as wholly representative. Another negative side effect mentioned is strangely enough, a decrease in grip strength. 

Despite the institute’s known reliability and reputation, this article did not include a works cited section. Though with a little digging I found this study in the National Library of Medicine that makes use of very similar verbiage. Considering that the article by the John Hopkins Institute states that “a study found”, singular, this is likely said study. Admittedly this is quite an old study haven come out in 1990, it’s reliable being in a peer reviewed medical library. 

There is also the case of the Dr. Donald Unger who, as outlined by this BBC article, experimented on himself. He habitually cracked the knuckles on just one of his hands for 50 years. Later X-raying both his hands and finding no difference in arthritis between the one that was cracked twice daily and the hand that had ne’er been popped. Whilst it doesn’t have nearly the same sample size as the previous (300 individuals as opposed to one), him being a doctor (not to mention being a noble prize winner) in addition to the staggeringly long period of time the experiment ran for, gives it more than an air of legitimacy. It is also from what I could find, one of the most cited experiments regarding this subject area.

All that being said, if arthritis is your only concern, crack to your heart’s content, just know that, even if they’re rare, there are other risks.

Answer 5

Knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis

2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

 https://ard.bmj.com/content/49/5/308
 This study compared knuckle crackers to non-crackers and found no increase of arthritis.

 https://www.jabfm.org/content/24/2/169
This long-term study finds no connection between knuckle cracking and osteoarthritis, except for minor things like hand swelling

 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0119470
 MRI imaging showed cavitation in synovial fluid makes the cracking sound, not joint damage

3. What secondary sources did you find (e.g., newspapers, magazines)? Only use secondary sources if sufficient primary sources are not available. For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

 https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/does-knuckle-cracking-cause-arthritis
 This article summarizes the medical research and shows why the myth lives on despite lack of evidence.

4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?
Scientific journals might prefer publishable or interesting findings, but these studies are peer-reviewed and replicated.

There is no financial incentive for knuckle cracking

5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?
Anecdotal reports of joint discomfort.

Myths passed down through families.

6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?
Long-term observational studies show no increased arthritis rates.

MRI imaging shows a harmless process.

There's no causal mechanism linking knuckle cracking to cartilage degeneration.