subject: What happens when my joints crack, pop, or click? - Chiropractic Health Care [print this page] What happens when my joints crack, pop, or click? - Chiropractic Health Care
The human body is capable of making many sounds. As a Chiropractor, many patients ask what makes the "pop" or "crack" sound when they move to get their spine manipulated or "crack" their knuckles. Here's how it works:
Knuckle cracking: Inside most of our joints is a lubricant called synovial fluid. Inside the synovial fluid are dissolved gasses, just as water has hydrogen and oxygen dissolved in it. Remember back in science class when we learnt that substances could change from solid to liquid to gas? This is what happens inside our synovial joints, liquid to a gas. When we bend our joints the two bony ends partially separate, creating an increase in the joint cavity size. Since the joint capsule makes a seal around the synovial fluid, increasing the volume (cavity size) without increasing the amount of fluid inside the joint, will decrease the pressure inside the joint. Here's the science class part. When we take a gas and compress it, we can change the state of the gas into a liquid. This is how we transport propane for our BBQs. The opposite also holds true. When we decompress a liquid, it can then become a gas. This is what happens when you turn your BBQ on, as you release the pressure, the liquid propane becomes gas again. This sequence is called Cavitation, which is the term used to describe the formation of vapour and gas bubbles within fluid through local reduction in pressure. This change of state releases a large amount of energy, which can be powerful enough to damage propeller blades on ships and in hydraulic turbines. The energy released impacts the surrounding fluid and tissues, which causes a specific high frequency vibration, that is trumpet shaped when studied by accelerometers. Since sound is vibration, this is where the "pop" or "crack" comes from when we bend our knuckles or visit the Chiropractor. Chiropractic patients often feel an immediate release and relief, as well as restoration of joint motion.
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