According to popular science news in China, I wonder if you often subconsciously beat your fingers? And you must make a "click" sound to be satisfied? So have you ever thought: Why does a finger-walking sound come true? Will frequent finger swings cause arthritis or thick fingers?
Today is the 24th World Arthritis Day . Let’s see if our subconscious fingers will cause arthritis to the finger joints.
01 What's going on when you bend your fingers?
First, let’s learn about the structure of our finger joints. It is a cavity surrounded by cartilage, ligaments, synovium, etc. There is a small amount of transparent and viscous liquid in the joint cavity, which is called synovial fluid.
When the joints are moving, in addition to the bones being moved, the surrounding ligaments also protect the stability of the joints at all times. The synovial fluid in the joint cavity is like "lubricating oil", making the joints move more freely.
As for making sounds with fingers, bursting of bubbles is the most common explanation at present. When you bend your fingers, negative pressure will be generated in the joint cavity, and the gas in the synovial fluid will exist in the form of bubbles. When the bubbles are squeezed and broken, they will make a "click" sound.
Of course, there are some different opinions.
2005 A Canadian scientific research team used professional equipment to conduct dynamic MRI scans on the hands. They found that the finger joints were filled with synovial fluid. When the fingers were pulled, the synovial fluid would also make corresponding changes. During this process, gases would appear in the synovial fluid and bubbles formed in the synovial fluid. But this bubble will exist until the fingers make a "click" sound.
Therefore, they believe that the sound of finger-wrecking is not caused by the rupture of bubbles, but is related to the formation of cavity in the joint.
When the joint is retracted, a black cavity can be seen forming in the joint cavity (excerpted from the literature Gregory N. Kawchuk, Jerome Fryer, Jacob L, et al. JaremkoReal-Time Visualization of Joint Cavitation, PLOS ONE, 2015)
In addition, it was also found from the experiment that the bones and bones did not come into contact during the joint movement, so the sound of the fingers that appeared was not caused by bone friction.
I believe that in the near future, scientists will definitely find the true source of finger-walking sounds.
02 Frequent finger swings will cause arthritis?
When beating your fingers, there is no friction between the bones. Therefore, in general, beating your fingers is not harmful to the finger joints and will not cause thickening of your fingers and arthritis.
Funny Nobel Prize winner Donald Unger once tried it out. In sixty years, he only beat the joints of his left hand, but never the right hand.
Sixty years later, his conclusion was that it is the same as if it weren't.
In 2011, researchers conducted a five-year retrospective study on the correlation between fingerwrecking and arthritis. The study included 135 experimental groups and 80 control groups, and the results showed that fingerwrecking and arthritis had nothing to do with fingerwrecking.
But in certain specific cases, frequent finger wrestling may cause damage to the finger.
03 Under what circumstances are finger beating can be harmful?
1990 A foreign study showed that frequent finger wrestling may cause hand function to decrease. In addition, frequent finger wrestling may also cause damage to the tendon ligament of the hand and require surgery.
In 2015, there was a document report that a 24-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for a long and frequent breaking of his little finger. After examination, it was found that the little finger extensor tendon and dorsal support band were damaged. When the little finger joint bends more than 50°, the little finger joint will be dislocation, and finally recover after surgery.
In addition, when the finger is injured, especially the finger has ligament injury, has not recovered, finger wrestling will aggravate the ligament injury, which may make the fingers thicker and the finger joints become unstable, and arthritis is prone to occur in the long run.
Therefore, finger-wrecking is not harmful, but frequent finger-wrecking, especially when finger-wrecking is injured, will become harmful if you don’t.
04 What problems will happen if your fingers become thicker
Generally, there are two reasons for your fingers to become thicker.
The first type is degeneration of the finger joints, that is, the cartilage wear of the finger joints.
Bone hyperplasia occurs around the joints, and the surroundings will become thicker. It is common for frequent hands users. Usually, there is no discomfort when young, but as time goes by, your fingers will feel uncomfortable when you get old.
In addition, there is autoimmune disease , such as internal rheumatoid arthritis, which will cause the cartilage of the finger to be eroded by the immune system, which will cause the finger joints to be thicker and even deformed.
The second type is caused by finger soft tissue damage.
If you poke your fingers when playing basketball, causing damage to the collateral ligament of the finger joints, and the fingers will swell and become thicker. At this time, you must fix the fingers for about 3 weeks and wait for the ligament to be repaired before moving. Otherwise, it will be difficult to fade into the fingers and become thicker, and it will even affect the movement of the fingers and joints.
In short, no matter what the cause of the thickening of the fingers, everyone should pay attention to it and go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time.
To sum up, moderate finger beating will not damage the joints. If the finger beating frequently or the fingers are ligament damaged, it may cause damage to the joints.
