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The latest physical anthropology research indicates that the human evolutionary line never went through a knuckle-walking phase. Be that as it may, we definitely entered, and have yet to exit, a knuckle-cracking phase. I would run out of knuckles (including those on my feet) trying to count how many musicians wouldn’t dream of playing a simple scale without throwing off a xylophonelike riff on their knuckles first. But despite the popularity of this practice, most known knuckle crackers have probably been told by some expert—whose advice very likely began, “I’m not a doctor, but ...”—that the behavior would lead to arthritis.
One M.D. convincingly put that amateur argument to rest with a study published back in 1998 in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism entitled “Does Knuckle Cracking Lead to Arthritis of the Fingers?” The work of sole author Donald Unger was back in the news in early October when he was honored as the recipient of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The Igs, for the uninitiated, are presented annually on the eve of the real Nobel Prizes by the organization Improbable Research for “achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.” In Unger’s case, I thought about whether his protocol might be evidence that he is obsessive-compulsive. From his publication: “For 50 years, the author cracked the knuckles of his left hand at least twice a day, leaving those on the right as a control. Thus, the knuckles on the left were cracked at least 36,500 times, while those on the right cracked rarely and spontaneously.”
Unger undertook his self and righteous research because, as he wrote, “During the author’s childhood, various renowned authorities (his mother, several aunts and, later, his mother-in-law [personal communication]) informed him that cracking his knuckles would lead to arthritis of the fingers.” He thus used a half-century “to test the accuracy of this hypothesis,” during which he could cleverly tell any unsolicited advice givers that the results weren’t in yet.
Finally, after five decades, Unger analyzed his data set: “There was no arthritis in either hand, and no apparent differences between the two hands.” He concluded that “there is no apparent relationship between knuckle cracking and the subsequent development of arthritis of the fingers.” Evidence for whether the doctor himself was cracked may be that he traveled all the way from his California home to Harvard University to pick up his Ig Nobel Prize in person.
Actually other scholarly studies of the phenomenon had been done. Responding to the Unger paper, Robert Swezey, M.D., wrote to the journal to report that his own 1975 study—co-authored by his then 12-year-old son in an apparent attempt to get the kid’s grandma to stop the kvetching over the cracking—also found no crack case for arthritis. Swezey further consulted Rand Corporation statistician John Adams, who noted that “it appears that the [Unger] study was not blinded. Blinding would only be possible if the investigator didn’t know left from right. This is not likely since studies indicate that only 31 percent of primary care physicians don’t know left from right.”
The knuckle kerfuffle reminded me that Stanford University bone development expert David Kingsley got dragged into this field a few years back when his son’s fourth grade class asked him if cracking was bad for you. He challenged them to come up with ways to find out while he searched the medical literature. “One kid said that we could divide the room in half,” he recalled, “and some of us could really crack our knuckles a lot and the others couldn’t, and we could see whether we end up with arthritis—an intervention experiment. I said that this was a great idea. The only problem was that it might take 20 years.” Or even 50.
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32 Comments
Add Commentyeah because dinosaurs and humans totally roamed the earth at the same time. oh and did i mention the earth itself was only created 8000 years ago? I mean its not like they have some kind legitimate testing protocol in place to be able to date things like earth and ancient biological matter like bones and flesh. I mean if they had things like this they would surely have to call it some crackpot name like "geology" or "evolutionary biology". Thank "God" that no such thing like this exists to cause me to look at the world in an analytical and intelligent way. Whew, what a relief!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt was God's infant children who wrote the words that you now quote. God is indeed wise and would never have allowed us to evolve from chimps. They were more lemur-like than chimp.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGod's infant children wrote the words that you now quote. God is indeed wise, and we didn't evolve from chimpanzees. They were more lemur-like.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisC&C,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDon't confuse the issue with facts!
James,
Read the front page of a newspaper. Scary. Why would an all powerful benevolent god let innocents suffer so, especially in his name? Nothing kills quite so effectively as religion. Possibilities include: he doesn't exist, he doesn't care, he is not all powerful, he is not benevolent, he is teaching us through tough love, he has left, ... and maybe some good reasons I can't imagine. What if your god has abandoned this world for one where he has been more successful-your other worlds? At least with religion you have hope-the carrot it dangles that gives you the blind eye to realities of our world. Plate tectonics-pseudo science! Geosynclines explains it all!
To JamesDavis,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry to let myself down here and call you a retard, but James, you are a retard.
I'd like to refer you to my favourite quote, from the great David Attenborough; on the hate-mail he receives from creationalists who are angry he doesn't cite God in nature's evolution:
"They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator."
Yeah, and thank "lucky charms/chance/time?" (whatever u want to call it), that dirt got bored of just laying there one day, and decided to spontaneously become the "Technological Wonder (as in nano-technology) of The Universe"--that life is. Because then we wouldn't be here, to debate: whether or not, dinosaurs and humans totally roamed the earth at the same time or the earth is only 8000 years old, now would we?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJamesDavis is quite a successful troll. He's got a 5-kill streak.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRaptor Jesus would be proud.
I have no problem with evolution. We are primates, and I am not ashamed of that. You think you're some special snowflake, parading around all that is beautiful and lofty. You fail to see the destruction that the human race has caused to itself and th eother species on this planet. If we continue to deny the fact we are animals, and part of the animal world, it allows us to continue to destroy the earth via some "right" to do with it as we please with the approval of some divine being. Maybe watch the news and look at the "beautiful and lofty" species that we have become. People are probaly the most destructive animal, on the same par with viruses and other agents of mass destruction, considering the species we have caused to go extinct.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUm, your belief in fantasy stories illuminates your lack of curiosity for facts regarding the origins of the Earth and it's inhabitants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOff tiopic:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love a good flame war!
On topic:
Cracking article. I was always told that cracking ones knuckles would result in arthritis. It's good to see that there is still a chance that I will get that career as a concert pianist that I always wanted (now all I have to do is learn to play).
As an extention... I am also a neck cracker. It would be interesting to find if there is any basis to the many suggested side effects (broken neck, arthritis, stroke...)
CO2 released from the joint stressing effort encourages anaerobic respiration, reduces backlash in the cartilage and compensates for the shortages in the amount exhaled through the lungs :) A newborn's spine cracks in such a satisfactory way when lifted from the cradle, that it leads me to conclude that it is more hereditary, and does not signifigantly contribute to climate change.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisa propos: knuckle kerfuffle:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIsn't it typical of us Third Chimpanzees ' comments? We always end up with rubbishing our relatives!
Thereby missing the point & ignoring the medical facts about WHAT really causes arthritis: epidemiological studies have shown that meat& dairy eaters have much higher arthritis rates than vegetarians , and least of them, raw vegans!
Species-specific nutrition is the order of the day! See: youthevity.com
we did not come from chimps we meerly share a common ansestor which needed not to use knuckle walking. God is a none issue and with god it needs to be presented not only about a diety but also then from that your diety and from that a metaphysical deity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is closed minded to assume a metaphyscial origin and to auto assume a possiblity, even more so when there is a wealth of evidence to the contary.
God is a no-issue in evoultion beacuse you can accept theistic evoultion but there is no need for a metaphyscial conlusion when by rational physcial means we have found a physcial process.
Metaphysics are simply magic and although one can belive in such they cannot assume such and force it onto others who do not share the same system.
P.S JamesDavis i have put your qoute forward for Fundies Say The Darnest Things
http://www.fstdt.com/
JamesDavis - I have put your statement forward for the website; Fundies say the darnest things! www.fstdt.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow in regaurds to the actual comment, the metaphyscial aspect of reality is simply magic now as it is not a requirement science exludes it as it is without evidence.
However the idea of beliving in a metaphyscial reality is fine by all accords however attempting to corce others onto your own idea is frankly closed minded.
Now to assume a metaphyscial god (your god yahweh im assumming) one must close their mind to any other idea as the creation by a metaphyscial being is the assumption which cannot be questioned by faith.
Now you yourself would have to disprove something with a welath of evidence behind it and prove a deity, then your diety then a metaphyscial reality which by definition is not physcial and therefore unporavble and therefore it is safe to assume imagination.
Besides your topic is really off the plot we share a common ansestor not come from chimps look at the texonomy. I have a basic manadtory science qualifacation and i can understand it!
JamesDavis - I have put your statement forward for the website; Fundies say the darnest things! www.fstdt.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow in regards to the actual comment, the metaphysical aspect of reality is simply magic now as it is not a requirement science excludes it as it is without evidence.
However the idea of believing in a metaphysical reality is fine by all accords however attempting to coerce others onto your own idea is frankly closed minded.
Now to assume a metaphysical god (your god Yahweh I’m assuming) one must close their mind to any other idea as the creation by a metaphysical being is the assumption which cannot be questioned by faith.
Now you yourself would have to disprove something with a wealth of evidence behind it and prove a deity, then your deity then a metaphysical reality which by definition is not physical and therefore un-provable and therefore it is safe to assume imagination.
Besides your topic is really off the plot we share a common ancestor not come from chimps look at the taxonomy. I have a basic mandatory science qualification and I can understand it! Therefore we did not knuckle walk as it is a different adaptation like a menopause is for humans.
Think of it as a tree Pan and Homo are on different lines of it yet we are still both Apes a subspecies of monkeys which are a subspecies of mammal which is a tetrapod (the link from tiktaalik and ichthyostega). Just as Pan is a Ape and therefore must be a subspecies of a monkey and a tetrapod which it is. (I do realise this is a massive simplification)
You folks would do Pavlov proud. Drop the word God, and your start drooling and foaming at the mouth. It comes straight from the spinal column. No brain activity at all is involved.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou've got to be kidding me with these comments. Did any of you actually read the article? The only mention of evolution was in the very first sentence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou're all cracked.
Laser,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAccording to the Bible, the horror humanity has become has to do with the fall. The Bible says that humanity is broken, therefore pointing out humanities brokenness serves to support the Bible's claim. We were meant to take care of the earth, not take advantage of it. As for the issue of pain, look at how human beings learn. Unfortunately, most people learn nothing living cushy lifestyles, and become narcissistic. Pain is, due to our bullheadedness, one of the ONLY ways we learn. God allows pain because it leads to humility, and a better understanding of what happens when humanity tries to do things on its own. Take a look around. Humanity STILL hasn't learned!
^ i know i should leave a proper statement but... LOL!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfunny how u guys brought the Almighty into the picture... for a moment I thought I was reading the wrong comment/discussion page, not meant for this article... anyway, kudos to Mr Unger for having the patience many will just be able to imagine... I know for sure I couldn't wait for a mere 5 days to get results from experiments, 50 years?! May the God bless us with patience... :p No one could deny him the Ig Nobel Prize I believe...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStill, I am really surprised to see that 'only 31 percent of primary care physicians dont know left from right'!! If that's the case, I cannot imagine how many percent of the world actually cannot tell the left from right! And you add 'only' in the sentence?!? By the way, the one thing I know for sure is that high-heels will definitely give 'the beautiful and lofty' the arthritis they crave for... Anyway, well done to the researchers!! Keep it up! Now excuse me while I crack my knuckles... ;)
Please don't feed the trolls, however unenlightened they may be. Not all people of faith are as unenlightened as others. Using words like "retard" only diminishes youself in this respect. It's best not to say anything at all.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn respect to the article I've been told for some time to quit cracking my knuckles or my hands may end up as a gnarled mess when I'm older. Of course it was all based on specious obversations so I'm glad there's been more serious studies on the topic.
anyway, back to the knuckle article...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat to read that this myth is "busted" as I've always suspected.
Also neat to read about the scientist getting kids to brainstorm about ways to design the experiment to determine if cracking knuckles causes arthritis. It would be great if more kids could be introduced to this sort of critical thinking at the elementary school level.
Yes rb3000, it would. I know critical thinking was such a non-issue when I was in school. I was also told that cracking my knuckles would make them bigger & I already felt that my knuckles were large and I stopped b/c I was worried it may be true. My hands are fine now & I don't worry about it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdknypg83- LOL I thought the same thing for a sec. I had to look at the article to make sure I was on the right page. I don't know where all the God stuff came from either. Mainly one of those creation myth people had to contradict the statement in the article about knuckle-dragging.
left unwritten is the fact that $million$ have been wasted researching this non-fact. Indeed, it mentions the devotion, specialization and staffing of Harvard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut, as in most studies--the work continues.
Thus the term; "Crack Head."
"Evidence for whether the doctor himself was cracked may be that he traveled all the way from his California home to Harvard University to pick up his Ig Nobel Prize in person."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sorry,I don't get why he would be cracked because he went personally all that distance to pick up one of the best 'prizes' man can achieve,unless I understood u wrong.Good read otherwise,Thanx.
The article is about cracking knuckle, not religion. I would be more interested on discussing the stupidity of asking for blinding on the study. Cochrane had taught many narrow-minded investigators.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article is about cracking knuckle, not religion. I would be more interested in discussing the needing of blinding for the study. Cochrane had successfully created many hard-headed investigators who refuse to accept any concrete study result without blinding.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan't believe these Americans! A fun report on knuckle-cracking becomes a pretext for a heated debate on creationisnm.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an unbeliever to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods -- and on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason?"
St. Augustine of Hippo, from The Literal Meaning of Genesis
its good to know that knuckle cracking dont lead to arthritis(i am safe)but will anyone please tell me what the real biological reason behind the practice?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIndeed, and no religion has ever proven quite so inhumane, oppressive, and violent those who attempted to purge theists from their nation all in the name of their religion Atheism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat millions the person the article was about simply cracked his own knuckles of his own accord for 50 years. No one was paying for this when it started. He did this of his own volition this was not some kind of government funded study, get over it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this