Cracking your fingers and knuckles is a habit that is almost compulsive in some people.
Inaudible for some people, but rather enjoyable for others, the light sound of stretching fingers is often seen as synonymous with re-energising yourself or taking a delicate situation in hand...literally!
Contrary to popular belief the sound heard when cracking fingers is not actually the bones that are cracking but the sound of trapped gas escaping from the synovial liquid surrounding the joints. Synovial liquid is present in all the joints in the skeleton and lubricates the joints as they move. The stretching of the fingers or toes therefore releases the bubbles of gas that have formed inside this lubricating liquid and produces the striking sound that can be heard.
Perhaps you are also amongst those people who have been told off by their teachers for doing it, or maybe you were told by those you annoyed that cracking your joints leads to arthritis later in life. Well, you can tell these people that that has been proven to be false. Or at least it hasn’t been proven yet. Finger cracking has been the subject of numerous studies and there has never been a link of higher arthritis rates in those who crack their fingers.
On the other hand, there is one proven risk in the habit – cracking your fingers will annoy those around you and earn you more than a few angry looks…
 Raphael DELVOLVE
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07/04/2021 | 
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