Is knuckle cracking bad for joints and can it cause arthritis?

The popping sound habitual knuckle crackers make may be annoying — or even alarming — but are they actually harming themselves?

The research is somewhat limited but generally concludes that manipulating finger joints is not harmful. MORE: Long COVID lacks universal definition, leading to misdiagnosis and misguidance

“My mother used to tell me don’t crack your knuckles. But sorry, mom: There’s no science to say it’s bad for your joints," Dr. Kim Stearns, an orthopedic surgeon, said in a 2023 Cleveland Clinic post.

A study from 1975 , based on a survey of elderly people with a history of cracking their knuckles, did not find a link between the habit and the development of arthritis.

In another study , a doctor cracked his knuckles only on his left hand at least tw