There’s always discourse regarding what cracking joints are. There’s synovial fluid, tendons slipping, arthritis, crepitus. It’s all very confusing. and help me understand!
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We don’t really know why joints crack. As you allude to, the leading theory is that it’s related to bubbles forming/popping in your synovial fluid — the liquid around your joints.
When you crack a joint and create/pop that bubble, it then takes a bit of time for the fluid to re-settle/allow a bubble to form again. That is the refractory period or “cooldown” you’re referring to.
**_All joint cracks of this type have a refractory period._** It may not be very long for certain joints, depending on your particular anatomy. But there is always some sort of refractory period.
If you can move a joint to create a constant, recurring cracking noise with no refractory period — **that’s a different type of crack, and it’s probably bad for you.**
For example, I can get my wrist to repeatedly make a cracking sound… but that’s because I’m hypermobile and my wrist bones are basically scraping together. That’s not a synovial fluid, bubbly, relieving, safe crack. That’s the sound of my joint doing something it’s not supposed to.
On the other hand, I can also “normally” crack my wrist, which provides that relieving “pop” feeling and does have a refractory period.
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