Here’s what happens to your knuckles when you crack them

One man cracked his knuckles in one hand for 60 years and not the other. Watch the video to see what he found out. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: There’s a long-held myth that cracking your knuckles can damage your hands. The sound definitely might make people around you cringe, but what’s making those noises, and is it actually bad for you? There’s a space in your joints filled with synovial fluid, a liquid that reduces the friction in your joints when you move. It contains gases (oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide). When you pop a joint, you stretch out that space between the bones. That expanding space creates negative pressure, like a vacuum, that sucks in the synovial fluid. It forms bubbles, which then collapse, and that’s what you hear. Most medical sources agree that unless you experience pain when you pop your joints, you’re probably fine to keep doing it. Researchers (including one man who cracked his knuckles on just one hand for 60 years) haven’t established a connection between cracking your knuckles and arthritis. One 1990 study of 300 people did find that cracking knuckles over a long period of time led to hand swelling and decreased grip strength, but there hasn’t been any follow-up research on that. Read it here: is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out Make sure you never miss behind the scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: Support Vox’s reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: Shop the Vox merch store: Watch our full video catalog: Follow Vox on Facebook: Follow Vox on Twitter: Follow Vox on TikTok: @voxdotcom