Knuckle cracking and arthritis: Ig Nobel prize-winning study concludes no link

[matt_mcl]

Re What’s actually cracking when you crack your knuckles?:

A recent letter from an MD to the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism reported that as a child, he was told that knuckle cracking would lead to arthritis. He accordingly embarked on a daring experiment: he systematically cracked his knuckles several times a day - on his left hand only - every day for fifty years. Arthritis failed to ensue in either hand. Article here (Unger, DL. Does knuckle cracking lead to arthritis of the fingers? Arthritis & Rheumatism 41:5, 949-950).

This heroic act of self-experimentation was awarded the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine.

[Tangent]

Good on him for taking matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Likewise, I have embarked on an equally daring, decades-long experiment on myself to test another old medical myth. I’ve got another 25 years to go, but so far I haven’t gone blind.

[samclem]

@Tangent

Good on him for taking matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Likewise, I have embarked on an equally daring, decades-long experiment on myself to test another old medical myth. I’ve got another 25 years to go, but so far I haven’t gone blind.

Sheesh! I’m already up to 50 years, but I must admit, my vision ain’t what it was when I was 15.

[samclem]

@matt_mcl

He accordingly embarked on a daring experiment: he systematically cracked his knuckles several times a day - on his left hand only - every day for fifty years.

While I understand he said this, I don’t believe it. No one could crack their knucles on only one hand every day for 50 years. I just don’t believe him.

[Czarcasm]

@Tangent

Good on him for taking matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Likewise, I have embarked on an equally daring, decades-long experiment on myself to test another old medical myth. I’ve got another 25 years to go, but so far I haven’t gone blind.

Left hand, right hand or both?