SOUNDS THAT JOINTS MAKE
The body is capable of making all sorts of “interesting” sounds — and no; I’m not talking about those sounds. There are any number of “joint sounds” that people ask me about, so I decided to cover a few of them in today’s post. Bear in mind that the second bullet point is the only one that I would consider “normal”.
- CREPITUS: Otherwise known as “Creep” (it’s where the word “Decrepit” comes from) crepitus is the crushed glass / crushed gravel sound made by some joints when they move. Bear in mind that while this does not always indicate a huge problem, it does reveal that something somewhere is not moving properly. Rest assured that if you have Creep in a joint, you will be told that you have DEGENERATIVE ARTHRITIS. Crepitus is thought to be caused by an abnormal relationship between gases, bones, and soft tissues (how’s that for vague?).
- JOINT POPPING: This is the “popping” sound made by your knuckles when you pop them — or when you get a good CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT. The popping is thought to be caused by Nitrogen gas during the pressure change that occurs in a joint when it moves just beyond it’s “normal” RANGE OF MOTION (the process is sometimes referred to as “cavitation”).
- TENDON POPPING: This is the sound that tendons can make when they ride up onto a bony “hill” and then ‘snap’ back down into a bony groove or valley during movement. You’ve all seen people who can move their wrists in a circle and make them ‘pop’ each and every time they go around. This is not cavitation, but it could be TENDINOSIS.
- CRINKLING LEAVES: This is one that I hear people complain about in their neck — or most particularly on their skull. Because it is not generally heard externally as are the other three, telling a doctor about it often brings blank stares. Much of this has to do with the fact that this sound typically comes from ADHESED FASCIA, which does not image well in the first place (i.e., if you r doctor can’t see it, it doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter). When you start telling your doctor about the sound of “crinkling leaves” that goes with your CHRONIC NECK PAIN or CHRONIC SKULL PAIN, just realize that you are likely to put into the “nut job” category.
I bring all this up because most of the time, if you are having some sort of sound when your joints move, it means that something is not moving like it should move. Abnormal motion always leads to DEGENERATION over time. It always amazes me how these ‘abnormal’ sounds will so frequently go away once the joint motion is restored via our Scar Tissue Remodeling Treatment. You can see any number of examples by scrolling through our VIDEO TESTIMONIALS. And for those of you trying to stretch through these sounds but are getting worse, HERE is a possible explanation. For those of you who actually are dealing with arthritic conditions, HERE is a good place to learn how to deal with it.
