• Question: Does clicking your fingers actually give you arthritis?

    Asked by griffmeg11 to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 12 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hi griffmeg11,

      I highly doubt that. Although I don’t know for sure, it does sound to me like a story of the kind that “if you eat watermelon pips, you will have a watermelon plant growing out of your mouth and nose… “

    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Ha! I can usually make my fingers crack on demand and my mum always says “don’t do that, you’ll get arthritis…” when I do it! I don’t think it’s true though, and I definitely don’t have arthritis! I think the noise comes from the release of pressure when you crack your fingers or knuckles. It sounds horrible sometimes though, doesn’t it!?

    • Photo: Mariana Campos

      Mariana Campos answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      Hello griffmeg11 🙂
      Hmm… I think this is one of those myths, that everyone says but there’s not really any experiment in science showing that (at least that I know of). I hope not!! As Clare I can crack my fingers on demand, but also my back and my neck 😛  Gross I know! But it feels good… So I keep on doing even if people complain 😛

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 12 Nov 2012:

      The Daily Mail probably says clicking your fingers gives you cancer. It says everything else does.

      Cancer researchers don’t think much of the Daily Mail and its stories about cancer.

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