Can cracking your knuckles cause you to dislocate/fracture your fingers?

Question

I crack my knuckled as a bad habit, and sometimes I feel that I can't help it. I've heard that cracking your knuckles can dislocate or fracture your fingers. Is that true?

Answer 1

Not that I no of, but I no that its not good for u wen u get older.

Answer 2

Yes, cracking your knuckles can weaken and even tear the ligaments in your fingers.

Cracking knuckles leading to arthritis is an old wives' tale; studies show no link between knuckle popping and arthritis. It doesn't cause arthritis.

Answer 3

No but it can cause arthritis.  

Answer 4

No, but it can become an addicting habit.  

Cracking your knuckles is neither harmless nor desirable. The arthritis connection may be an old wives' tale, but cracking your knuckles can hurt your hand in other ways, and there's no benefit to it. Some students crack their knuckles after writing a great deal, but cracking knuckles isn't a solution for writer's cramp. Instead, take a  break, and bend and stretch out your fingers a few times.

Kids may develop a habit of cracking their knuckles because they like the sound. The "crack" comes because of a change in the synovial fluid, the lubricant that bathes the joints. When finger bones are suddenly stretched apart, the space between the joints widens, and an air bubble forms in the synovial fluid. The bubble quickly bursts and makes a sharp sound.

Nature did not intend us to repeatedly stretch the ligaments of the finger joints. I found two medical articles that talked about patients who had injured their hands from knuckle cracking. One over-stretched his ligaments and dislocated his fingers. Another partially tore the ligament in her thumb

What does cause arthritis? There are many kinds of arthritis, but the most common, osteoarthritis, is a function of age and genetic predisposition. If you X-ray hands of people age 65, 70 percent will have arthritis. Osteoarthritis tends to be a bit worse in the dominant hand.

The bottom line: While cracking knuckles may not get you arthritis faster, it won't win you many fans and might injure those fingers in other ways. So it's best not done