Age. The risk of developing arthritis, especially osteoarthritis, increases with age.
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Gender. In general, arthritis occurs more frequently in women than in men.
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Obesity. Being overweight puts extra stress on weight-bearing joints, increasing wear and tear, and increasing the risk of arthritis.
- Work factors. Some jobs that require repetitive movements or heavy lifting can stress the joints and/or cause an injury, which can lead to arthritis.
After you '"crack" or "pop" your knuckles, or any other joint in your body, it takes 10-15 minutes for the carbon dioxide to re-dissolve into the fluid. This is the reason you might have tried to crack your knuckles again immediately and didn't succeed.
Soooooo:
Knowing all this one can deduce and the fact that there is no recorded evidence that cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis. There is however evidence that knuckle popping can lead to other issues like fingers spontaneously falling off, just kidding! Err maybe ;) But seriously there is evidence that knuckle popping can lead to other hand issues later on in life like decreased hand strength and swollen hands.
Be kind to your joints!
I found the 50-year knuckle cracking experiment done by a rheumatologist that was mentioned in class: Arthritis Rheum. 1998 May;41(5):949-50. Habitually cracking your knuckles might not be a major factor in causing arthritis in the general population, but maybe individuals with a genetic predisposition for the disease develops arthritis with this habit. Autoimmune diseases are induced when trauma or injury occurs, and knuckle cracking might just be enough of a stimulus to cause an arthritic flare-up.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and definitely makes sense that it would be a coincidence that if you habitually cracked your knuckles and were predisposed to developing arthritis. I also found the link to the study Dr. Cohen brought about in class. Doctor Under who only popped his knuckles on his left hand and used his right hand as a control and found no difference or signs of arthritis, I am attaching a link for all to read. Ps he won a noble prize in medicine for his results.http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving2/stories/DN-nh_knuckles_0112gd.ART.State.Edition1.4bbf338.html
ReplyDeleteTreatment can be effective if used appropriately and properly, but the pain does not go away with just that, although we do not like it, painkillers such as hydrocodone, norco, vicodin which are medicines that doctors prescribe, help us to reduce the pain we feel for the disease.
ReplyDelete@ Joan there is no evidence suggesting knuckle popping causes arthritis only that it can lead to swollen joints or decreased hand strength or as Marie pointed out it could lead to arthritis if the person was already predisposed to the disease. But as far as treatments are concerned there aren't really treatments for knuckle cracking, maybe suggestions on how to stop as many papers suggest it is a nervous habit brought on by stress and anxiety.
ReplyDeleteMost of the articles I've looked at suggest that, as the posted blog indicates, that cracking your knuckles has no affect on whether you acquire arthritis or not. This link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/joint.html
was pretty succinct and informative. It was also cool because its from the library of congress and I looked at other "Everyday Mysteries". Still, I also found an article where people attempting to crack their knuckles injured themselves by trying to force the pop.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10067714
Anyway, I was also curious if the same could be said about cracking ankles. I know my ankles have cracked for YEARS now and it annoys me because I can never sneak up on anyone :(
But basically there isn't any evidence that ankle pops lead to arthritis either. However, apparently aside from the synovial fluid sac stretching and releasing fluid, our tendons and ligaments can get "out of line" and snap back into place like rubber bands. I think that might be what is happening in my ankle. Also, because I know I've twisted my ankle several times, I think this has made the cracking more frequent.
To sum it up, while cracking might not lead to arthritis, I think it might make your joints, for lack of a better word, feeble. Plus, you might accidently hurt yourself...and it annoys people too :P
@ Alfonso, lol!! Yes, I also read that most joint injury occurs as a result of individuals forcing the pop. (Which would definitely lead to feeble joints). I am a runner and have been one for years and most of my joints pop involuntarily, it isn't a constant thing but it happens, usually between sitting for a long time and then getting up.
ReplyDeleteI also feel like some cracking is normal at least that's what I tell myself.
If I think logic, popping knuckle would cause Arthritis but theoretically not. I definitely think it causes inflammation of joint though. Since your body is more flexible when you are young, is there any different between when you started in younger age, or older?
ReplyDeleteIt has definitely been proven that cracking your knuckles doesn't lead to arthritis but as far as inflammation, it would probably depend on many factors like whether or not your force the cracking or how often you do it, if you have any predispositions to arthritis ect. However, I do believe that repeated injury of a joint or repeatedly causing it to swell can injure the cartilage and potentially lead to degenerative joint disease.
ReplyDelete