The Real Effects of Knuckle Cracking

Does knuckle cracking cause arthritis? Probably not.
Image: Shutterstock

I don’t remember when I first started cracking my knuckles, but it was a long time ago. I would guess I was probably about ten or eleven years old at the time. I’ve done so on and off since then, oscillating between periods where I just didn’t care and periods where I was trying to stop my bad habit out of fear of arthritis.

I’ve always wondered—but never bothered to check—what the real effects of cracking my knuckles are. Despite whether it causes arthritis or not, there’s no denying that it’s a habit that is hard to break. And it’s not exactly and appealing habit to have—the loud pops can be annoying to others, and I always seem to have the biggest urge to crack my knuckles when a room is dead silent.

It turns out, there’s no actual scientific evidence thus far that confirms that knuckle cracking causes arthritis. When two or more bones meet, they are connected by ligaments, which are encapsulated by a joint capsule. This capsule is filled with synovial fluid to help joints move smoothly. The popping or cracking sound happens when we stretch and pull apart the joint capsule, thereby expanding it, decreasing pressure inside of it, and releasing dissolved gasses within it (nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide).

Arthritis is caused by cartilage damage, and therefore it’s unlikely that knuckle cracking could cause arthritic problems later on in life. Knuckle cracking stretches our joints and stimulates nerve ending there, which is why it can feel so good to us. Unfortunately, that constant stretching can also make the joint unstable—a development that could lead to lower grip strength and potential loss of hand function.

So, while arthritis might not be of particular concern, joint problems may be. For me, I’ll probably aim for moderation and muscle strengthening. My joints often crack on their own, and when I do it on purpose, it’s usually because my muscles around the joint feel like they’re too tight or uncomfortable. But I also find that the more I build up muscle strength and flexibility, the less I feel the need to crack my knuckles and other joints.

My plan is to limit how much I actively crack my joints, but still allow myself some leeway when necessary. Overall, it’s probably best for my body (and less annoying for the people around me) if I eventually break the habit completely, but if I’m being realistic, that probably won’t be for a while.

High Heels: The Price We Pay for Fashion

High heels are pretty, but our feet pay the price

Image: Shutterstock

One of my favorite shows to watch with my girlfriends during college was Sex and the City. All us girls would get together, grab a bottle of wine and some chocolate, and sit down for a few laughs at the crazy lives and misfortunes of all the show’s main characters. Like so many other viewers, sometimes we’d gush over Carrie’s fashionable getups and other times we’d shake our heads and groan in horror.

What IS she wearing?

She’s got the black bra on under a sheer white shirt again!

I want that dress!

But one thing we never booed were actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s choice of footwear. We’d ooh and aah at her signature heels, more often than not Manolo Blahniks. We’d stare in disbelief as she ran down the streets in heels, never seeming to feel the pain I always associate with them.

We’d say things like, Oh my God! How can she run in those? I can’t believe she didn’t just fall down!

Sarah Jessica Parker's high heeled days are (mostly) over
Image: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

For Parker’s six seasons and two movies playing Carrie Bradshaw, she literally lived in heels. After a decade of doing so, her feet got fed up. She slipped and twisted her ankle a few times while filming I Don’t Know How She Does It wearing cheap heels in 2011, and after a visit to the doctor, she’s had to mostly give up a life where she’s three inches taller than normal.

“I went to a foot doctor and he said, ‘Your foot does things it shouldn’t be able to do. That bone there… You’ve created that bone. It doesn’t belong there,’” Parker said.

“The moral of the story is, the chickens are coming home to roost. It’s sad, because my feet took me all over the world, but eventually they were like, ‘You know what, we are really tired, can you just stop—and don’t put cheap shoes on us?’”

For one of the world’s biggest high heels icons, the diagnosis must be tough. But it’s not any different than the ones millions of women put themselves at risk for by constantly putting themselves through Foot Hell. There’s a reason heels hurt when you’re not used to them—it’s because they do unnatural things to your feet, things that shouldn’t be done all day, every day.

I’m all for wearing heels for special occasions. I love the way they look, and there’s just a dressed-up feel that you simply can’t get with flats. But I try to keep my heel-wearing to special occasions only, since they do a number of bad things to your body over time:

Heels can damage our toes, feet, ankles, legs, and knees

1. The Patella (inside of the knee) has up to 26% excess force placed on it when women wear heels. This is a common location in women for osteoarthritis.
2. Posture is worse when wearing heels because the spine and hips are placed out of alignment when body mass shifts forward. The pressure on the pad of the foot goes up by 22% for 1-inch heels, 57% for 2-inch heels, and 76% for 3-inch heels.
3. Heels make our calf muscles contract, which over time can mean those muscles become shorter and tighter.
4. Wearing heels too much can result in Morton’s Neuroma, which is a thickening of the tissue on a nerve between the third and fourth toes. This can cause numbness or pain in the toes.
5. The Achilles tendon is tightened and shortened by wearing heels, and over time this can cause pain in the heel of the foot.
6. Bunions can occur when heels are too tight fitting around the pad and toes of the foot. A bony growth can form on the joint around the base of the big toe, forcing it to angle inwards and causing foot pain.
7. Another bony growth is called Haglund’s deformity. This can happen at the back of the heel and is from rubbing from straps or the back of the shoe.
8. Hammertoes happen when we wear those fashionable pointy-toed heels. Our toes are forced together in a bent position, and over time toe muscles weaken and become unable to straighten the toes.
9. Metatarsalgia happens when we get pain in the ball of the foot from wearing heels for long periods of time.
10. Don’t forget about ankle injuries that happen when we twist our ankles or fall like Sarah Jessica Parker did. Damage can be permanent, depending on how serious the fall is.

The moral of the story for those of us who haven’t ruined our feet quite yet? Save the heels for special occasions. Make it a rare treat. Don’t torture your feet, or you’ll likely spend years paying for it. 

Vitamin Sunshine: Reducing Arthritis Risk

The sunshine vitamin, or vitamin D, might help prevent rheumatoid arthritis

Image: Shutterstock

My favorite things to read about in the health world are natural remedies. It’s like eating chicken soup and drinking hot tea when you’re sick—it just leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. I’m lucky enough that I don’t suffer from arthritis (yet), but I do know plenty of people who have. Rheumatoid arthritis is particularly scary, especially for women. It can be incredibly painful and happens when the body’s immune system begins attacking the joints. We do not yet know why this happens.

But a new study brings light—literally—to the situation. There’s a chance that the “sunshine vitamin,” or Vitamin D, may reduce the risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers from Harvard Medical School conducted two separate surveys of over 100,000 women. The first group was monitored beginning in 1976 and the second in 1989.

Image from webMD.com
Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when the body attacks its own joints

Researchers estimated the women’s UV-B radiation exposure based on where they had lived and then compared it to their overall health. Their findings were mixed, but researchers remain optimistic. In the 1976 group, women who got more sunlight were up to 21% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. There seemed to be no affect on the 1989 group.

“Our study adds to the growing evidence that exposure to UV-B light is associated with decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis,” the report reads, continuing on to suggest that “differences in sun protective behaviors” might be the reason for the discrepancy between the two groups of women.

But Dr. Chris Deighton, President of the British Society for Rheumatology cautions, “We cannot advocate everybody sitting in the sunshine all day to protect from rheumatoid arthritis, because UV-B burns people and increases the risk of skin cancer.”

Another professor in the UK, Alan Simlan echoed Deighton’s sentiment, but with a peppering of encouragement. In lieu of additional studies, he recommended that people “go out in the sunshine for up to 15 minutes in the summer months and expose their face and arms to the sun to top up their vitamin D levels.”