Cracking your knuckles remains a widespread habit, often misunderstood as a cause of arthritis. Decades of scientific investigation and expert consensus make it clear: cracking knuckles does not raise your risk for arthritis — whether osteoarthritis (“wear and tear”) or more inflammatory varieties. Numerous studies have compared habitual knuckle-crackers to those who don’t engage in the behavior and found arthritis rates are virtually identical in both groups.​ The distinctiv