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Vault Visit | Does knuckle cracking cause arthritis?

On July 30, 2017, our VERIFY team answered many people's questions.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — WFMY News 2 turns 75 this year and we are opening the News 2 Vault. 

On July 30, 2017, our VERIFY team answered many people's questions: does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis? 

To verify, we reached out to Allston Stubbs. He was the associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Health. He first explained the process. 

"You're not actually breaking the bone, you're not actually breaking the joint," Stubbs explained. "The noise a joint makes when you pop it is simply a change in pressure. When you move that joint suddenly in a particular direction, It's like taking a suction cup off of a mirror, it's going to make a noise." 

So back to the question, does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis? 

"As best we can tell, both from experience and medical research, does not lead to long-term damage," Stubbs said. 

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