Cracking Knuckles

It's been countless years since I first cracked my knuckles. I could only recall it's something I picked up from my aunt when I was sharing the same roof with my relatives during my primary school days.

It hurts at first, but the pain goes away after a few attempts and it has since then slowly become a habit to me. So I carry this habit with me all through these years although I tried quite a number of attempts to quit but not successful.

I have had some knuckle pains on and off over the years after I put too much pressure onto cracking those knuckles that sometimes seemed a little difficult to pop but nothing serious ever happened so far (as the pain usually gone after resting for a few days). Until 2 months ago, I somehow put too much force on cracking until the pain stay until today.

It's only one particular finger, the pointing finger, that has this problem. And Little did I realize the action that I accidentally pressed my finger against the car steering as I turned the direction has actually worsened the pain and now I can't even hold me fist tight.

I've read that cracking knuckles shouldn't be causing anything serious like this.
(1) Does Cracking Knuckles Create Permanent Damage?
(2) What Actually Happens when You Crack Your Knuckles?
(3) Why Knuckles Crack and Joints Creak?

However, I found this and it seems to make sense to me, especially the third and forth point:-
Although several studies have shown that knuckle cracking does not lead to arthritis, what you are doing when you crack your knuckles is basically the same thing as dislocating your shoulder, pulling the bones and cartilage apart to release a gas (called synovial fluid, made mostly of carbon dioxide and some nitrogen) that makes the popping sound. People who have continued to crack their knuckles for very long periods of time have developed symptoms that include:

• Reduced hand strength, probably the most common effect.
• Swollen or painful hands.
• Soft tissue damage to the joint capsule(s).
• Damage to the hand's ligaments, the soft tissues that connect our bones.

What can I do to fix this?