Cracking and Popping and Clicking – Oh My! For many people this is a daily event. Their joints crack, pop, and click. We crack our knuckles, back, and other joints. We’ll also look at the similar problem of snapping tissues as well. First let us separate two different phenomena. Cracking and popping are the same issue, but clicking is a fundamentally different issue. We will examine these in turn. There are many causes for how they arise. Snap, Crackle, and Pop: What Do All These Joint Sounds Mean? What do all these gyrations mean?Thus, by looking at how they arise we can evaluate the situation if there is a need for proactive prehabilitative protocol. Joint cracking & popping. First, the theory on how joints pop and crack is due to cavitation. When this occurs, the pressure drops within the synovial fluid which causes the small amounts of air dissolved within the fluid to come together and form bubbles. They then collapse on themselves. The formation of these bubble and collapse via cavitation causes the popping/cracking sound. There are various studies on the subject (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7). There was also a 5. One of the studies above showed that the forces involved with the joint manipulation may have forces that exceed the force needed for articular damage. However, as a whole the evidence points to no increases in arthritis. One of the studies also indicated that knuckle cracking increases the preponderance for joint swelling and grip strength loss as well as other traits such as manual labor, biting of the nails, smoking, and drinking alcohol. However, none of the other studies concluded this. There may be some logic to this in that people with overall bad habits and lots of stress may have increased cortisol production and the accompanying negative effects such as poorer recovery. Cracking joints Cracking finger joints. Should I be concerned about joint noises? A joint capsule surrounds all synovial joints and is a “closed” system filled with fluid. The bones in my body crack a lot, when i move. Symptoms chronic joint cracking all over. However, I would not worry about it too much. The swelling and loss of grip strength is particularly interesting though. Everyone has different genes for how tight the articular capsules of their joints are. If you have joints that are particularly lax (meaning “double jointed” in laymans terms), it may not be a good idea to crack your knuckles. Lax joints are associated with increases in orthopedic injuries and lower strength. Since the joints themselves are a bit more unstable because of the looseness of the connective tissue, the body cannot generate as much force lest it injure itself. Therefore, potentially increasing this joint laxity may be a problem. This is common in sports with excessive flexibility work such as rhythmic gymnastics where the articular joint capsules can be stretched out significantly. As a precautionary measure if you have looser joints I would avoid cracking them just in case it may present problems down the line. This is especially true if you notice that your joints are being “stretched out” so that they can move further and further each time you crack them. Obviously, laxity in joints can be compensated with proper strength work to an extent so such things are always beneficial as well. Finally, crepitus can be present where there is degeneration in the joint, and it cracks inadvertently. If you suspect you have something similar, it’s obviously best not to crack them more than they are. Joint clicking. The common answer to joint clicking is that if it is painless it is fine. I agree with this assessment especially if you have always had it. For example, people with more lax joints as described above may have always had issues with clicking albeit not painful clicking.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2019
Categories |