The cracking and popping you hear when you get out of bed in the morning is not a sign of your body self-destructing, at least not when the noises happen painlessly. In fact, these sounds can sometimes feel good, almost like something has clicked back into place.
Despite these impressions, there’s not usually anything significant occurring, and there’s probably nothing to be concerned about. Random cracking sounds are related to the sounds you may hear during an adjustment with one of the practitioners at Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation, located in Lafayette Hill, the Main Line, East Falls, Elkins Park, Manayunk and Hatfield, Pennsylvania.
To understand these cracking sounds, medically called crepitus, it helps to know a little about the anatomy of the spine.
From the base of your skull to your tailbone, your spine is a flexible column of 33 bones called vertebrae. Between most pairs, there are spongy, flexible discs that act as spacers and shock absorbers.
The spinal cord is part of your central nervous system, a bundle of nerves that connects your brain to the nerve roots leading out to your body. Along the back side of vertebrae are structures called facets that act as stabilizers that prevent excessive spine motion.
Facets connect with each other at facet joints, surrounded by a capsule called a synovium, containing synovial fluid. It’s here that one source of crepitus occurs.
Stretching your back whether deliberately or through the action of getting out of bed also stretches the synoviums of facet joints. This action expands the space in which the synovial fluid moves, which can, in turn release pressure in the facets and other joints of your spine.
As this pressure releases, synovial fluid changes states between fluid and gas, causing an effect called cavitation, which can, in turn, cause the familiar cracking sound.
Gases like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide are thought to build up over time in spinal joints, particularly when joints are out of position and unbalanced. Poor posture may also contribute to this buildup.
When you stretch in the right way, you may be able to release these unbalanced postures and pressures, resulting in the release of trapped gases.
In the context of regular body movement, such as getting out of bed, the cracking you experience is harmless if it’s not accompanied by pain, which might indicate problems like osteoarthritis of the spine.
Forcefully attempting to crack your back, on the other hand, can strain muscles, pinch nerves, or damage blood vessels. You can also stretch ligaments in your back, creating perpetual instability.
Keeping the noise to a minimum starts with a visit to the nearest location of Active Care Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. Call or click to request an appointment today.
