Letting the joints crack is relaxing for some – and extremely uncomfortable for others. You can find out here whether it is unhealthy and which actually leads to a crackling sound.
Many people like to let their joints crack – especially in our fingers: by pulling on our fingers or overstring the joints, it cracks. What leads to this sound and whether the crack is unhealthy or not has been controversial for a long time. We will clarify you about the current state of research.
Let the joints crack: probably not unhealthy
Is it really that bad to let the joints crack? You could pay for rheumatism and arthritis that could even arise, you can hear again and again.
So far, science has not quite agreed what exactly happens when the joints crack. However, there is mostly consensus that it is not unhealthy to let them crack. Among other things, the Spiegel and the pharmacies report report on this:
- The specialist for allergies examined the finger cracking in a self -experiment over a period of 50 years. He had his left hand cracked at least twice every day while leaving the right hand in peace.
- After 50 years he had both hands X -rayed. The result: the joints of both hands were completely healthy. There were no signs of arthritis or osteoarthritis.
- He published his results in 2004 in the journal “Arthritis & Rheumatism”.
A more recent study by 2011 with 215 subjects covers the result: According to this, regular fingering does not increase the risk of osteoarthritis. This would not wear out the joints.
A study from 1990 came to a slightly different result: 74 of the 300 subjects cracked regularly with their fingers. Their hands tended to be somewhat swollen and had a weaker grip. However, the researchers also found that the fingercrackers tended to smoke more and drank alcohol and do physical work. It is not clear to what extent this influenced the results. Nevertheless, the scientists finally recommended that it are better not to crack the joints regularly, as this could restrict the functionality of the hands.
Summary: Letting the joints crack most likely does not lead to arthritis, arthrosis, rheumatism or other major symptoms. However, it cannot be completely ruled out that there is no unhealthy effect on the joints and fingers.
What happens when the joints crack?
Not only the health effects of the finger crack have not yet been completely researched. To this day, science still does not quite agree on what happens when the joints crack and how it comes to the cracking sound. But there is a plausible theory that is covered by several research groups:
- When we pull on the bones and let the joints crack, the gap between the affected joints increases. A bladder suddenly arises in this enlarged gap and it cracks. If we let go of the joint again, the bladder resolves without noise.
- A team of researchers led by Gregory Kawchuck reported on this observation in 2015 in the “Plos One” journal. The researchers examined with MRI what exactly happens in the joint when cracking.
- The orthopedic surgeon Dr. Christian Massing of the pharmacy-Umschau: Accordingly, the joints are in a liquid in which CO₂ occurs in dissolved form. If we let the joints crack, the CO₂ passes into gas form and forms blisters that push themselves into the enlarged gap.
- However, Dr. Massing that the cracking sound is created when the bubbles burst. Kawchuck, on the other hand, assumes that the sound would result in forming the bubbles – and the bladder finally turned back without noise.
To this day, it is not completely clear what exactly happens when the joints cracked and how the sound comes. However, we know that gas bubbles are responsible for cracking in the enlarged joint columns.
Revised by Philipp Multhaupt
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