Does knuckle cracking cause arthritis: myth or reality? We’ve all been told that knuckle cracking causes arthritis. But is that really true?
Fortunately, knuckle cracking has been the subject of a fair amount of research. One of the most famous pieces of research was conducted by a doctor in California, Dr Donald Unger, who set out on a mission to see if cracking knuckles really causes arthritis as many people claim.
In order to prove his theory, Dr Donald Unger, cracked the knuckles of his left hand at least twice a day for over 60 years whilst never cracking knuckles on his right hand. The knuckles on the left were cracked at least 36,500 times. The results of his personal experiment were surprising. Decades later, he took X-rays of both his hands and found there was no difference between his hands and no signs of arthritis in his left hand.
Dr Unger concluded that cracking knuckles does not cause arthritis. He stated: “There is no apparent relationship between knuckle cracking and the subsequent development of arthritis of the fingers.”
Whew. Thank God somebody's out there who's obsessed with a silly idea...
That myth was busted decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI've been cracking my knuckles for 50+ years, especially the fingers. Somewhere along the way, I decided to leave most of my fingers alone and only crack two fingers on my non dominant hand. I touch type. About 5 years ago I realized that those two fingers are slower than the others at typing. I used to know when I made a typing error. Still do, except those two fingers. The letters will still show up, but one or two after where they're supposed to be.
ReplyDeletePhone keyboard? Typos all the time.
More important was the fact he didn't get million dollar funding for it. This is how scientists of old did their science. Not making a career out of watching grass grow when there are much better things our funding should go on.
ReplyDeleteDoes banging your head against the wall repeatedly cause dain-bramage?
ReplyDeleteAsking for a friend...