Last updated 01/03/2024 by The pain clinics - Interdisciplinary Health

Is it dangerous to break your fingers?

We all know someone who cracks and snaps their fingers. But is it dangerous to break your fingers? No, says the research. On the contrary!

Many people also think that this cracking sound can be unpleasant to listen to. Maybe that's how this claim that breaking your fingers is dangerous came about? It can well be compared to getting square eyes if you watch too much TV or the PC screen.

- Many of us who break and crunch our fingers

Do you crack and crunch your fingers and other joints? Well, you are certainly not alone. According to a research study published in the medical journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research then up to 45% of all people do this.¹ A surprising number if you ask us, but that's how it is. Among the other 55% who do not break fingers, neck, toes and other joints, we find those who claim that:

"Don't break your fingers, it can give you osteoarthritis and make the joints weak..."

We decided to take a closer look at what the research says about the matter. What do you think? Is it the case that you get joint wear and joint diseases if you drive and break your fingers? Or not? For us, it is important to establish early on that it can simply be directly good for your joints. But more about that further down in the article.

Anatomical knowledge of joints and fingers

Many of your joints, including your fingers, have small pockets of fluid inside them that allow you to move them. This liquid is called synovial fluid (synovial fluid) and therefore such joints are called synovial joints. The main function of the synovial fluid is to lubricate the joints and allow movement without the joint surfaces coming too close to each other. In other words, make sure that we get clean and nice joint mobility, without any kind of rubbing or friction.

Why do your fingers crack when you pull them?

When you pull, move or twist a joint, you increase the distance between the various joint surfaces, which leads to less pressure inside the joint and an effect we call "negative pressure". This effect causes synovial fluid to draw into the joint and creates the characteristic "crack" sound. This is known as cavitation and are actually pressure changes inside the joint itself. When the fluid draws into the joint, the sounds from that less cavitation bubbles cracks.

In the illustration above, you see what happens in a joint when we get the "crack sound" (cavitation). This therefore occurs inside the joint due to pressure changes that add more fluid.

You might be thinking that this has been proven for a long, long time? No, it hasn't. It wasn't until 2015 that a larger study proved that it is fluid that draws into the joint when you break a joint. For up to 50 years, it was believed that it was only air bubbles that burst when you pulled a joint apart, but more happens than that - and lubricating fluid therefore draws into the joint.² So you might as well break your fingers or go to the chiropractor to loosen up your back and neck, in fact researchers have compared it to "massage for the joints«.

- So it is not harmful for the joints to break the fingers?

No, it is not harmful to break fingers or joints. There is actually positive evidence that suggests the opposite, and that it actually lubricates the joints. Larger studies have proven that there is no increased risk of joint damage, osteoarthritis or joint disease among those who break their fingers and joints in the body. However, they wrote the following about finger cracking:

"However, we did find a small increase in ROM among joints that cracked compared with those that did not." (Boutin et al)

They thus showed a positive change in the finger joints after having 'broken' they. One more goal the finger breakers FK.

- And it's not like that either "can be too much cracking" and thus become "loose in the joints?"

Two large studies proved that there is no damage to cartilage and cartilage loss, ligaments, tendons or grip strength when breaking fingers. In fact, the study concluded that the cartilage and joints were stronger than among those who did not break joints and fingers.³ They also report that joint breakers experience a therapeutic relief as the fluid soaks into the joint and restores normal pressure in the joint itself. Among other things, they wrote the following:

"Habitual knuckle crackers had thicker MH cartilage in the dominant and non-dominant hands than those of the controls"

The study published in the medical journal Hand Surgery and Rehabilitation thus showed that those who regularly engaged in finger bending actually had stronger and thicker cartilage.

Summary: Good news for the finger-crunchers

So, what does this mean? Yes, that means that the crackers out there can just as well ignore employees at work, and say that such cracking does not lead to damage to the joints. On the contrary! However, we would like to point out that this does not apply to pinching in the knees and jaw, as this can stem from meniscus damage or rupture of the meniscus. Therefore, we do not recommend going around snapping your jaw and knees, but you can nicely snap and mobilize your fingers, toes and back.

Training of stiff hands and fingers (with video)

We have reached the conclusion that it is not dangerous to break your fingers. But still, is it the case that you like to break your fingers because they feel stiff? If you have pain in your fingers, there are several good exercises and measures that can help you. The video below shows chiropractor Alexander Andorff put forward a recommended exercise program for hands and fingers.

VIDEO: 7 recommended hand exercises

In the video below you can see the seven recommended exercises for hands and fingers. They can help prevent stiffness and ensure good joint mobility. Perhaps this will lead to you having less of a need to crack your fingers too? You can also train your hands using grip trainer or finger trainer. All product recommendations open in a new browser window.

Feel free to subscribe for free our Youtube channel if desired. There you will find a number of training programs and health knowledge videos. Remember that you can also contact us at Pain clinics Interdisciplinary Health if you have any questions or are wondering about something. We have several clinic departments in Norway which offers investigation, treatment and rehabilitation of all ailments in muscles, tendons, joints and nerves.

Our recommendation: Train your grip strength with a hand trainer

Said the hand trainers are very good for training grip strength. They come in different colors with different strength resistance, so that you can gradually build up your own hand strength. In addition to training the grip and the hands, they work well as "stress ball«. Read more about our recommended hand trainer here .

Sources and research

1. Boutin et al, 2017, “Knuckle Cracking”: Can Blinded Observers Detect Changes with Physical Examination and Sonography? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2017 Apr;475(4):1265-1271

2. Kawchuk et al, 2015, Real-Time Visualization of Joint Cavitation, PLOS One.

3. Yildizgoren et al, 2017. Effects of habitual knuckle cracking on metacarpal cartilage thickness and grip strength. Journal of Hand Surgery and Rehabilitation.

Photos and credit

Illustration (cavitation): iStockPhoto (licensed use). Stock illustration ID: 1280214797 Crediting: ttsz

Also read: Osteoarthritis of the thumb

- Feel free to follow the Vondtklinikkenne Vervrfaglig Helse YOUTUBE

- Feel free to follow the Vondtklinikkene Verrrfaglig Helse at FACEBOOK