Myth Buster: Does Cracking Your Knuckles Cause Arthritis?

Myth: Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.

Facts: The habit might annoy others around you, but there is no evidence that it will lead to arthritis in your hands. “No one has done a careful study to show that cracking knuckles does or doesn’t benefit you or cause you harm,” says John Hardin, M.D., a rheumatologist and chief scientific officer for the Arthritis Foundation. “It doesn’t benefit anything, so it’s probably not a great idea to do it.”

What causes the cracking sound? It may come from snapping tendons or ligaments in your hands or from the popping of gas bubbles escaping from the joints.