What Happens When You Crack Your Fingers

Although stretching the joints helps stimulate nerve endings, the habit of cracking your fingers can lead to damage to the joints. cartilage that covers the joints.

Getting your fingers “cracked” is a habit that many people have. However, it can cause them joint problems, such as arthritis.

This habit generates a certain pleasure and many people do it several times during the day. However, we do not always think about the possible risks.

Why do our fingers crack?

The joints are the point where the bones come together and come together.

All joints contain an area called the joint capsule. It is an area that protects them and contains a natural lubricant called synovial fluid. This lubricant is necessary for the movement of the joints.

It is precisely this liquid that influences the famous “crackle” because there is air inside it. When crossing the joints, the joint separates and widens the space inside the joint capsule. This thus causes the dissolved gases to form bubbles to occupy the new space created.

By exerting force on the joints, the bubbles formed escape quickly. This therefore causes the characteristic crackling sound.

After this cracking, it is not possible to repeat the action immediately. This is because the joints must first return to their normal size and the gases must dissolve in the fluid.

It is possible to reproduce this crackle about 15 minutes later. 

Why do some people like to have their fingers cracked?

Experts say cracking your fingers can be a nervous habit.

However, it can also be a habit that generates pleasure. This is because by pulling on the joints, the nerve endings in the area are stimulated.

Between 25% and 54% of people are said to have this habit.  It should be noted, however, that it would be more common in men than in women.

What happens when you get your fingers cracked

Many people have a nasty habit of getting their fingers cracked frequently. It can also cause discomfort to those around them.

Several studies suggest that cracking your fingers can cause arthritis. It can also cause instability in the joints and loss of strength and function of the hand.

From a scientific standpoint, cracking your fingers often could damage the cartilage that covers the joint.

However, there is not yet sufficient evidence to show that this habit can interfere with blood circulation.

One of the best-known studies on this subject is the one that won the Ig Nobel 2009 (an alternative prize given to unconventional scientific work).

Donald Unger, a Californian doctor has had his knuckles cracked in his left hand for 60 years at least twice a day.

He had never done it with the knuckles in his right hand. He concluded that he never had arthritis after all these years.

A larger study was carried out in Detroit in the 90s: the hands of 300 people over 45 were analyzed. It was found that 84% of those who suffered from inflammation in their hands had a habit of cracking their fingers.

However, researchers could not find a direct link between this habit and inflammation in the hands of these people.

Astonishing consequences

In any case, it is surprising that people who frequently had their fingers cracked in the past developed discomfort and inflammation afterwards.

For the founders of osteopathy, this characteristic sound of the finger cracking is the signal that the technique is working properly. Moreover, they consider that it also makes it possible to modify a possible bad posture of the bone.

The conclusions of studies carried out over the years are divided. Some consider that the cracking of a finger harms the joints while others think that it does not cause any damage.

There is therefore a lack of scientific evidence to link cracked fingers and arthritis.

Today it is known that this disease arises from genetics, age and the hard work carried out over many years.

Conclusions

It has therefore not been proven that arthritis comes from cracking fingers. However, cracking your fingers could still cause further damage. In fact, lesions in the thumbs or sprains in the ligaments of the fingers can appear. However, the cases identified are very rare.