Is cracking my knuckles harmful?
No, cracking your knuckles is not harmful. The famous pop is gas bubbles collapsing in joint fluid, not bones grinding. Decades of studies, including one researcher who cracked one hand for sixty years, find no arthritis link. The habit is acoustically annoying and medically innocent.
What deserves attention is different: pain, swelling or locking with any joint sound, or joints that crack with pain during movement.
So the honest verdict: crack in peace, spare your colleagues where possible, and bring painful or swollen joints, silent or noisy, to a doctor. The sound was never the problem.
Source: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, knuckle cracking and hand osteoarthritis
See a doctor promptly if
- New difficulty passing urine, loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness around the genitals or between the legs: go to emergency now
- Back pain with fever, chills, or recent serious infection or injection drug use
- Back pain after a significant fall or accident, or any fall in someone with osteoporosis or long-term steroid use
- Back pain with unexplained weight loss, a history of cancer, or pain that is constant and worse at night
- New weakness in a leg or foot, such as a foot that slaps or drags
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
If you are buying a thermometer
A basic digital stick thermometer is accurate and costs a few dollars. Forehead scanners are fine for quick checks on children; ear thermometers need good technique to read true.
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