When my back starts hurting, I have someone crack it, and then it feels better. I heard air bubbles or gas is released. Can some explain it to me like I’m five about why this would relieve pain and how it all works?
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The cracking sensation is caused by nitrogen gas bubbling out of joint fluid solution due to the sudden pressure change that occurs when the joint is snapped into different position, ie cracking knuckles or back. Now that much I know and am certain of, and the other redditor I think might be leading you a stray in talking about the bones grinding away at cartilage etc as this was an old hypothesis that led to the False conclusion that cracking your joints leads to arthritis (inflammation of the cartilage in joints) which we now know is incorrect, hence the bone/cartilage rubbing hypothesis is incorrect.
Now in terms of the pain relief mechanism, that isn’t very well understood, nor have many studies been able to conclusively show it even is physiological, which is why chiropracting is considered a non-evidence based healthcare practice. There have however been studies that have shown the effect of cracking joints helps to increase pain threshold for said joint, so I guess it’s a bit like exposure therapy, so maybe by cracking your back whenever you are in pain, your brain is rewired to no longer perceive the current painful stimuli from your back muscles/tendons/ligaments as large enough to warrant a painful response, and so the pain goes away, but the damage that was causing the pain stays, and I imagine this effect wears off hence why the pain returns a week later after doing the same lifting etc that caused the pain.
Alternatively it may be completely down to the placebo affect but that’s another rabbit hole to dive down
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