Do you find cracking your knuckles to be an obsession? We’re happy to inform you.Is there anyone whose mother hasn’t prevented them from knuckling at least once in their life? Donald Unger was the same.
However, the youngster, who would go on to become a doctor, started a personal quest to break the knuckles in his left hand at least twice a day for 50 years straight, while leaving the knuckles in his right hand to break on their own or not at all.
He concluded that “there was no arthritis in either hand, and no apparent differences between the two hands” based on the findings, which he published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
Knuckle cracking, sometimes referred to as finger snapping, is a highly prevalent practice among many people.
“Some people have a compulsive habit of cracking their knuckles because they feel better,” said Dr. Venuthurla Ram Mohan Reddy, an orthopaedic surgeon at Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad. She also specializes in robotics and navigation.
According to Dr. Reddy, the joint is lined with a thin layer of fluid. Gas bubbles including nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are present in this fluid layer. When we snap our fingers, the sound is produced by these gas bubbles popping.
Although there is no proof that people who crack their knuckles have more arthritis, they are “more likely to have hand swelling and lower grip strength,” and this leads to “functional hand impairment,” according to a widely cited 1990 study published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.
Many subsequent investigations, however, have refuted this, finding no connection between grip weakness and breaking.
Reddy stated that there won’t be any long-term harm to the joints as long as there isn’t any discomfort or swelling while cracking the fingers. “Despite continuous finger popping over an extended period of time, it is harmless.”
Stretching the soft tissue, such as the ligaments, tendons, and capsule, and relieving stiffness are two benefits of finger snapping. “There is a benefit to occasionally snapping your fingers,” Dr. Reddy stated.
