True or False: Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.

9k=While knuckle cracking can certainly aggravate those around you, it's not true that it will cause arthritis. This is one of those myths that's been around for ages.

Dimitrios Pappas MD, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, says, "There have been a few studies on this. None of them shows any change in the occurrence of arthritis between people who habitually crack their knuckles and those who do not."

However, there is a study that found that people who habitually crack their knuckles have weaker grip strength over the years. And, as we tell patients all the time, cracking any joint in the body dozens of times every day can cause ligament damage.

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