DOSSIER

  07/04/2021 | Raphael DELVOLVE

Cracking your knuckles is a practice that some people find compulsive. Inaudible to some, but incredibly pleasurable to others, the little sound of stretching your knuckles is often synonymous, for the person doing it, with regaining their composure or taking control (and it's no exaggeration to say so) of a difficult situation.

Contrary to what some might believe, the sound you hear when you pull on your knuckles isn't that of a bone cracking, although the tone is similar. It's actually the bursting of carbon dioxide bubbles escaping from the synovial fluid. Synovial fluid is a liquid present between all the joints of the skeleton; it's what lubricates the joints. Voluntarily stretching your fingers or toes causes gas bubbles to form inside the synovial fluid, which burst as soon as they're formed, producing that shrill sound for those who hear it.

You might even be one of those people who've already been reprimanded by their teacher for annoying them—so much so, in fact, that they told you this practice, if repeated too often, could cause arthritis… Well, you could have told them that's false… At least, it's never been proven. The subject has been the focus of numerous studies, none of which have definitively shown that people who crack their knuckles are more likely to develop arthritis.

However, this practice does have a proven risk: cracking your knuckles annoys those around you, and they'll be giving you disapproving looks for a long time.

  Raphael DELVOLVE

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