# Knuckle cracking and arthritis: Ig Nobel prize-winning study concludes no link **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362 "2009-10-02T16:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362/1 "2009-10-02T16:34:02Z")
Re [What’s actually cracking when you crack your knuckles?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/531/whats-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](http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/86510619/PDFSTART) (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](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17899-best-of-the-ig-nobel-prizes-2009.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362/2 "2009-10-06T00:49:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362/3 "2009-10-06T00:54:41Z")
> [@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. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362/4 "2009-10-06T00:57:51Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/knuckle-cracking-and-arthritis-ig-nobel-prize-winning-study-concludes-no-link/512362/5 "2009-10-06T02:22:27Z")
> [@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?