3 months ago
Ruth Hill spends almost every day of the week working on crafts with her group at the Macon-Bibb Senior Center. Using glue and lace she's turning ordinary cans into toilet paper holders, but sometimes her arthritis forces her to slow down.
"I have to stop for a while and let my fingers kinda rest," said Hill. She thinks something she did as a child has a lot to do with it.
"My grandmother would tell us kids that, we'd be outside cracking our knuckles and she would say don't do that because you will have arthritis when you get old and believe me she didn't lie I do have arthritis!," she said laughing.
Physical therapist Brian Ross of Piedmont Orthopedic & Sports Complex says snap, cracking or popping your knuckles won't increase your chances for pain later in life.
"Cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis," he said.
Ross says gas in the fluid that surrounds your joints can form bubbles. He says when you crack a knuckle that bubble bursts causing the popping sound, but not arthritis. He says that can come from lifelong wear and tear and family history.
"Instead of the parents telling the kids they're gonna get arthritis from popping their knuckles the kids can look back and say no if I'm gonna get arthritis, it's probably gonna be from you," he said.
Still, no matter how she came to have it, Hill says she won't let her arthritis stop her from living life or keep her from cracking her knuckles every now and then.
