Cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis. It’s always been the rumor, but is this actually true? It’s a habit of mine, but I would hate to have it affect me later in life. Does anyone know the answer to this?
The same thing runs through my mind about 3 seconds AFTER I crack my knuckles. 
I don’t know about arthritis, but I do know that the more you crack them the worse it gets. In other words, eventually the pops are louder and more numerous. I stopped and can hardly crack my knuckles anymore, but I started cracking my toes and now they’re just as bad as my knuckles were.
Short answer - NOPE! Longer answer… could be an indirect cause if you REPEATEDLY crack your knuckles over a looooong period of time. But the occasional knuckle-cracking isn’t going to cripple you later…
www.orthop.washington.edu/bonejoint/xzzzzzzz1_1.html
www.webmeds.us/arthritis.html
www.health.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=8504
www.panix.com/~iayork/knuckles.html
Casper, thanks for the links. Unfortunatly, I’m one of those “loooooong period of time” people, but I’ll see what these sites have to say. Thanks!
Cecil’s column on knuckle cracking.