How come we don’t feel anything when we can hear our bones/joints crack pretty loudly when stretching or moving after a longer period of rest?

Question

Sometimes I just get startled by how loud my insides can be, and through all the layers of fat and muscle. Is it just conductive(?) hearing? Like the sound traveling from my bones across my body to my ear drum? That still doesn’t explain the lack of any physical sensation matching the sound.

In: Biology

Answer 1

You do “feel” the sudden change in pressure in your joints when they crack due to the bursting of nitrogen gas bubbles. The sensation is a gentle outward “pop”. The adjustment isn’t as dramatic as you may think, because it sounds like your bones are cracking. When you “crack” (chiropractors prefer *”adjust”*) your joints to crack, you’re placing pressure on the air pockets/bubbles in your cavity, specifically called “cavitation”. The sound is audible due to the movement of fluid throughout the joint when the bubble bursts. You hear it because it, well it is audible, not to mention your brain does a pretty good job of syncing up the sound and sensation occurring at the same time.

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