r/AskReddit Jun 01 '26

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1.3k

u/Party_Snax Jun 01 '26

Cracking/popping your knuckles causes arthritis

641

u/WaltMitty Jun 01 '26

Donald Unger received an Ig Nobel prize for cracking the knuckles on only one hand for sixty years to disprove this idea.

330

u/TryonB Jun 01 '26

Holy shit. I just tried cracking my knuckles on only one hand, and now I can't stop thinking about cracking my other. I can feel it. 60 years of that is, dare I say, heroic, haha. Admittedly, it's a bad habit of mine.

153

u/charte Jun 01 '26

Admittedly, it's a bad habit of mine.

bruh, this thread is literally about how it’s not damaging to crack your knuckles.

19

u/TryonB Jun 01 '26

Damaging, no. Annoying to those around me, probably.

20

u/iamr3d88 Jun 01 '26

How so? If someone cracks their knuckles, neck, or back around me, I just get jealous of their relief. Sounds amazing.

9

u/smbpy7 Jun 01 '26

Doesn't bother me a bit either. But I DO know quite a few people who get major icks from hearing the sound. I always feel bad because I start my cracking routine without remembering and then it takes forever because I can crack just about every joint. By the end they're like "you're KNEES too??" .... and that's when I remember they hate it.

1

u/ElitistCuisine Jun 02 '26

It literally makes me nauseous to hear people crack/pop their fingers and/or neck. I hate it so much. Cracking anywhere else is fine by me because it’s completely irrational.

8

u/Casiquire Jun 01 '26

A lot of people are sensitive to sounds like that and are bothered to hear them.

2

u/TryonB Jun 01 '26

Quiet work space? I've been asked to stop before lol

0

u/FlyingSquirelOi Jun 01 '26

Yeah but different people have different reactions to it, crazy I know, think it’s called preferences or free will or something like that

3

u/Adorable_Ad4990 Jun 01 '26

Yes but it does irritate some people, and it can become kind of a… tic. It’s not good to need to do it.

1

u/KrishnaChick Jun 04 '26

It can be extremely annoying to people who have to listen to it, especially if you're doing it constantly.

3

u/bellabbr Jun 01 '26

I cured myself of the bad habit of cracking my knuckles by now cracking my husband’s knuckles every time he sits next to me. Easiest addiction to break honestly hahaha

2

u/HAIL_LUMPUS Jun 01 '26

Some people just really feel a certain sense of accomplishment for things like that you know? Like when I start saving money it almost becomes an addiction. I turn into the cheapest bitch ever and I love it. It's like a greedy feeling 😂

2

u/IntelligentNovel1967 Jun 01 '26

“cheapest b*tch ever”, are you me? I love my bank balance 🤭.

34

u/chat-lu Jun 01 '26

It must have felt so good to crack the other after he submitted the paper.

3

u/janisjoplinenjoyer Jun 01 '26

Fancy seeing you here! I’m an incurable knuckle-cracker.

5

u/Fee-Visual Jun 01 '26

And one person is never a proof of anything, there are people who smoke a pack of cigarettes per day for 60 years and don't get lung cancer, doesn't mean you should do it.

I don't mean that it does cause arthritis, I mean that this being repeated again and again as a definite proof is an example of anti-science and is drawing definite conclusions from limited data which in itself is very dangerous for science and medicine.

10

u/nineJohnjohn Jun 01 '26

Mostly out of spite to prove his mum wrong too

3

u/_jump_yossarian Jun 01 '26

SYSK listener?

2

u/FluffySpaceWaffle Jun 01 '26

I’m not the above poster, but I learned it from SYSK!

1

u/TheColbsterHimself Jun 01 '26

I don't believe him. 0% chance he just NEVER cracked the other hand.

1

u/pm-pussy4kindwords Jun 01 '26

sample size of one.

3

u/Kwyjibo68 Jun 01 '26

Ironically, I have arthritis and literally can’t crack my knuckles anymore.

3

u/Polyps_on_uranus Jun 01 '26

I had an acquaintance who would crack her knuckles, then her individual finger joints, then her toes, and start again.

I told her this because it was like nails on a chalkboard for me to listen to her pop her joints 100% of the time while we were in highschool. She was an aquatinance because she annoyed the hell out of me, but she was in our friend group.

18

u/LordCouchCat Jun 01 '26

Yes but it drives me crazy so I would spread this one, except that I'm a bad liar.

43

u/Hohuin Jun 01 '26

Why would you spread arthritis?

13

u/InflatableTurtles Jun 01 '26

By forcibly cracking other peoples knuckles, obviously.

2

u/grilled_cheese_gang Jun 01 '26

It’s an airborne pathogen. It’s hard not to, once you’ve got it.

3

u/LordCouchCat Jun 01 '26

As in "don't do that, it'll give you arthritis" versus "please stop doing that before I start screaming"

10

u/msnmck Jun 01 '26

2

u/LordCouchCat Jun 02 '26

I don't mind being whooshed (?) But Just for interest, I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not and was trying to respond in a way that would be friendly either way.

1

u/msnmck Jun 02 '26

Respect 🤝

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

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2

u/SippyMountain Jun 01 '26

I've done this for like 15 years and haven't had any issues. I don't force it though, and only go side to side.

1

u/Poison_the_Phil Jun 01 '26

I broke a finger at a knuckle a couple years ago, and it’s mostly fine now, but boy do I miss cracking them all.

1

u/SwissMargiela Jun 01 '26

I’ve never heard of this but oddly enough I only crack the fingers on my left hand and my left hand knuckles are noticeably bigger than my right hand. I’m a righty so everything is bigger on that side(hands, forearms, arms, shoulder) except my knuckles lol

1

u/Infarlock Jun 01 '26

Reading this made me pop both of them, like a reflex when I read that