# Can cracking your knucles give you arthritis?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 3, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403 "2003-02-03T02:04:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PerrinsAxe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@PerrinsAxe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerrinsAxe)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/1 "2003-02-03T02:04:09Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/2 "2003-02-03T02:08:48Z")

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The same thing runs through my mind about 3 seconds AFTER I crack my knuckles. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Sir\_Dirx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Sir\_Dirx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Dirx)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/3 "2003-02-03T02:14:42Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![CasperQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@CasperQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CasperQ)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/4 "2003-02-03T02:16:30Z")

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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](http://www.webmeds.us/arthritis.html)  
www.health.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=8504  
[www.panix.com/~iayork/knuckles.html](http://www.panix.com/~iayork/knuckles.html)

> **[Cracking Down on Knuckles](https://www.kidzworld.com/article/1438-cracking-down-on-knuckles)**
>
> Could your mom be yanking your chain when she tells you cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis? Find out what that popping noise is and the dangers of cracking your knuckles.

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**Author:** ![PerrinsAxe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@PerrinsAxe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerrinsAxe)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/5 "2003-02-03T02:29:14Z")

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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!

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**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-cracking-your-knucles-give-you-arthritis/152403/6 "2003-02-03T02:43:33Z")

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Cecil’s column on [knuckle cracking](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_305b.html).