How bad is it to crack your fingers? This is what science says.

If you're one of those people who have the habit of cracking your fingers, you've probably heard people tell you thousands of times that doing so could have negative consequences for your health. Although it's a popular idea, science doesn't actually support that doing this causes negative damage to the joints.

READ: What really happens to your body if you skip water for a day? Does cracking my fingers affect my health?

That peculiar cracking sound your fingers make when you snap them is the result of a normal reaction in our body. The noise that results from pulling or clenching the joints in your fingers is due to the bursting of air bubbles formed in the synovial fluid (the fluid that nourishes and lubricates the cartilage) due to the change in pressure inside the joints.

This is explained by Renata Gregorio Paulos, a traumatologist specializing in hands at the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (HCFMUSP). "So far, there's no scientific evidence that the habit can harm hand health or cause joint thickening," the specialist says. But the effect of deliberately bursting these bubbles has been studied by medicine for decades.

To give an example, Gregorio Paulos mentions that the possible relationship between finger snapping and the development of arthritis and osteoarthritis was based on an article published in 1998, which gained notoriety among professionals in the field. However, it was an informal article published by American scientist and physician Donald Unger in the form of a letter in the scientific journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

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Of course, science has already proven that doing this isn't harmful to our health, but is it good? In addition to investigating the relationship between the habit and a greater propensity to develop joint diseases, Gregorio Paulos points out that studies have also been conducted in search of benefits.

"Some studies have observed that the range of motion of the joint increases slightly after snapping the fingers, but nothing significant, and after a while the joints return to their normal state," says the expert.

As you can see, doing this habit frequently won't have any positive or negative effects on your health. The only warning is not to overuse the clicks around people who might be shocked by the noise.