New Delhi, December 8 (IANS). When our joints suddenly make a popping or cracking sound, it is often an experience with which almost every human being has gone through it at some time or the other. From cracking of fingers to sounds in knees, ankles, neck or back! People sometimes consider it a sign of fatigue, sometimes of weakness, and sometimes they even consider it to be an early sign of some serious disease. But modern health research shows that every crackling of a joint is not a disease, rather there are many very interesting scientific reasons behind it.
This sound of joints is heard most in those places where bones do not rub against each other, but a soft and smooth lubricant i.e. synovial fluid is present between them. When we suddenly stretch or bend a joint, the small gas bubbles present within it burst rapidly. Scientists call this process cavitation, and the bursting of this bubble produces that loud sound. Many MRI-based studies have clearly shown that the number of gas bubbles forming inside the joint increases immediately after the fingers or knee are cracked, which proves that the sound does not come from the bones colliding but from this chemical-physical process.
Then this question often arises whether it is harmful to crack fingers or knees repeatedly? Many researches have been done on this in the last two decades and most of the conclusions were that doing this under normal circumstances does not cause diseases like arthritis. Till now there is no solid scientific evidence that cracking fingers in the morning and evening causes wear of joints or weakening of bones. Yes, doing this repeatedly with speed or force can loosen the surrounding ligaments and tissues, causing some people to feel slight pain, stiffness, or temporary swelling.
Knees are especially in the news for cracking because the knee is one of the most complex and overused joints in the body. Due to ageing, muscle weakness, obesity or sitting for a long time, there is slight irregularity in the movement of the knee joints. Sometimes this sound occurs because the tendon or ligament slips slightly from its place and returns, causing a pop-like sound. This is normal and is not usually considered a sign of any disease in the absence of pain. But if the sound is accompanied by pain, swelling, locking or discomfort while walking, it could be a sign of cartilage damage, meniscus problem or early osteoarthritis, which needs to be checked.
In 2018, the US National Library of Medicine conducted a research on noise around the knees. Studied on people above 40 years of age. Some systematic reports on the prevalence of knee noise have found that only 17.1 percent of men have crackling knees compared to 38.1 percent of women.
Several recent studies have also found that people who have strong muscles and do regular stretching or light exercise have relatively less joint noise. Drinking enough water, balanced levels of calcium-vitamin D and not sitting in one posture for a long time can also reduce this problem. When the body warms up or gets better blood circulation, the synovial fluid becomes more elastic, and the joints move with stability.
Thus, joint cracking is a natural part of the human body and is, for the most part, completely harmless. Science suggests that this sound is a complex but common biomechanical phenomenon. This should not be taken as a sign of weak knees or broken bones, unless it is accompanied by pain or swelling.
–IANS
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