Don’t “snap” your fingers: why is it dangerous to crunch your joints?

Many people have been told since childhood that “snapping” fingers is harmful. Allegedly, it has a bad effect on the joints and as a result leads to various diseases, such as arthritis. However, there is another opinion, according to which the crunch can even benefit. So how does this habit affect the body and whether it is worth crunching joints on purpose? Let’s find out together with Olga Barbashina, kinesiotherapy specialist, LFC instructor, sports aerobics trainer and expert of the International Festival of Health and Sports SN PRO EXPO FORUM.

Is it safe to crunch joints?

Opinions on this matter differ radically. Many experts believe that it is absolutely safe. There are even a number of studies to support this opinion, for example, the following.

A radiographic study conducted in 2011 on 215 people showed that the risk of joint disease does not depend on whether you crunch your fingers or not. Nor does the frequency with which this manipulation is performed matter. And if the process is not accompanied by pain, swelling, fever, then there is definitely no reason to panic.

In 2009, the American doctor Donald Unger was awarded the Schnobel Prize in Medicine – he experimentally proved that clicking joints does not lead to arthritis. For 60 years, Donald has been clicking the joints of his left hand – and never his right – and claims both hands are fine.

Doctors in the British Medical Journal have also done their research and have come to the following conclusion: there is no reason to believe that finger crunching can lead to any adverse effects. The same results were reached by the experts of the Western Journal of Medicine.

Why could crunching your joints be dangerous?

However, despite so much research, there is a contrary opinion.

While crunching your neck and spine is essentially the same process as crunching your fingers, it’s much more serious here. There is a hypothesis that it can cause a stroke. It’s all about the fact that along the spine run the arteries that feed the brain with blood. Sharp movements of the back or neck may well damage one of them, resulting in the formation of a blood clot, which can block the blood supply to the brain and cause a stroke. Despite the fact that the chance of such a development of events is extremely small, I think it is not worth it to test fate.

Neurotic finger crunching. Another study found that the habit of crunching the knuckles can go hand in hand with habits such as smoking, alcoholism or an irresistible urge to bite the nails.

Orthopedists have their own explanation for finger crunching. They believe that this sound is formed in the tendons and ligaments, which, when bending sharply, overcome a small resistance and crunch. Doctors do not recommend subjecting these ligaments to frequent stretching, as regular friction at the point where the bones join can lead to joint destabilization.

European scientists after a number of experiments proved that systematic stretching of finger joints leads to their fragility. And this is fraught with frequent dislocations and even impingement of adjacent nerve endings.

So, stresses on the joints lead to crushing and grinding cartilage, destruction of their integrity and malfunctions. And such a seemingly harmless habit can really lead to an unpleasant disease – arthritis.

Personally, I recommend minimizing the habit of crunching your joints. Since over time there is a compulsive urge that is hard to fight. If the joints crunch not only from your manipulations, but with any movement, it is better to find out the cause.

Reasons for the crunch is a sufficient number. This and sedentary lifestyle, hypermobility of joints, excessive amount of salts in the bone tissue, increased physical activity or, conversely, sedentary lifestyle, and perhaps even pathologies of the gallbladder and liver or renal failure. Based on this, it is necessary to either adjust the motor activity or deal with the health of internal organs.