Old Wives' Tale Medicine Biology
BUSTED Comprehensively false

Cracking Your Knuckles Causes Arthritis

Research shows no connection to joint damage

✗ The myth everyone repeats

Cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis or permanent joint damage.

✓ What is actually true

Multiple scientific studies have found no causal link between knuckle cracking and arthritis. The popping sound comes from bubbles in joint fluid collapsing, a normal physiological process. Long-term studies, including one by Dr. Donald Unger who cracked only one hand's knuckles for 60 years, showed no increased arthritis risk.

Believed Since 1900
Year Revised 1975
Why Changed Discovery
Confidence Fully Debunked
Region Worldwide

Reception

8/10
6/10
The receipts 2 sources
  1. Knuckle Cracking - Journal of the American Medical AssociationPRIMARY
  2. Snopes: Knuckle Cracking ArthritisREFERENCE

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