I remember when I was a kid I had this one friend who used to always crack her knuckles. And every time she did, someone would without fail say to her, “if you keep doing that, you’re going to get arthritis!” I was grateful for their cautioning, because quite frankly, the sound annoys me, but then, whenever I’d pop a knuckle or joint by accident I’d seize up with fear that I too would develop arthritis.
All I knew at that age was that judging by my grandmother’s gnarled fingers, arthritis was not something I wanted to get. But then a wonderful thing happened: the theory was dispelled. While the exact cause of arthritis is unknown, it is held by most experts that it is from an auto-immune disease that attacks healthy blood cells, causing them to release chemicals into the blood stream that in turn damage the joints. The only thing joint cracking causes are maybe a few shudders, and many a career in chiropraction.
