[9/26/2004]I think everybody’s got a nervous habit but habitual knuckle-crackers can relax your mothers were wrong it doesn’t cause arthritis.

According to a letter in “Arthritis and Rheumatism” journal, a doctor described a 50-year experiment he conducted on his own hands.

Every day, for 50 years, he claims, he cracked the knuckles on his left hand at least twice. He left his right hand alone. After 50 years, he had no signs of arthritis in either hand, and both hands looked pretty much the same.

Now, there’s a wide margin for error in this so-called study.

We can’t verify whether he indeed was able to limit himself to one-hand-knuckle-cracking.

If we do accept that he consciously popped the knuckles of one hand and not the other every day for 50 years, there’s a pretty strong case for an obsessive compulsive disorder diagnosis.

Let me take this opportunity to explain that what is commonly called popping knuckles isn’t actually a pop at all. The sound we hear is actually two sounds. The first sound happens when one pulls the finger joint and creates a bubble. The second sound is the bubble popping. At a joint, ligaments and connective tissue hold two separate bones together in something like a thick liquid. So when one stretches a joint, it creates extra space for the fluid, therby creating a bubble. When the bubble appears, the liquid pushes back on the ligaments, snapping them back in place.

But most experts agree that despite what your mother may have said, popping knuckles doesn’t cause arthritis. It may cause a weakening of the hand, though.

So, pop away but be prepared that opening jars may get more and more difficult.

But these same experts agree that the habit is annoying to others. The writer in the study suggests that’s probably not enough to make people stop popping their knuckles.

I don’t know.

I don’t crack my knuckles because it gets on my mother’s nerves.

The long-term effects of arthritis or misshapen hands weren’t deterrents but my mother’s wrath definitely helped steer me clear of adopting this habit.

It simply wasn’t allowed in my family.

Neither was:

Gum popping and/or smacking

Food smacking

Nail biting

Tooth picking

Nail clipping

Clicking anything

Ice chomping

The sight of half-chewed chicken in someone’s mouth doesn’t gross me out. I can simply shut my eyes or turn away. It’s the sound of smacking that inevitably accompanies the aforementioned behavior that sets my skin crawling.

You see or perhaps you hear audible habits are frowned upon in my family. In fact, we gain identity from our shared history of pet peeves, nervous habits and short tempers.

I won’t name names but I brought a serious boyfriend to dinner to meet my aunt. Our phone conversation afterward went like this:

Me: “What did you think?”

Aunt: “He seems nice. (Pause) He smacks.”

Me: “I know. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

Aunt: “I couldn’t help noticing.”

Me: “Hmmm. (Pause) Well, he is nice. (Change subject.)

Let’s just say I learned the hard way that all the diamonds and fine china in the world won’t muffle the sound of smacking. If anything, they magnify it.

That’s not to say my family doesn’t have our corner on compulsions. They just tend to be the quiet ones hair twisting, lip biting, nail picking, smoking, drinking. Those may draw eye rolls and gossip but not full wrath.

Still, I think it’s good information that cracking knuckles doesn’t cause arthritis. They can relax about that one worry. And just maybe it will bring their knuckles a little peace and quiet.

Sonya Kimbrell is features editor of The Vicksburg Post. E-mail her at skimbrell@vicksburgpost.com.