Onomatopoeia

A few of my joints crack at certain times.  I can crack my fingers every so often by pressing them together.  I can crack my knees my crouching down.  My neck kind of cracks a bit if I move it around in certain ways.  Obviously I'd considered that these may not be good signs for the health of my body and I should probably determine if this is normal or harmful.

Talking to other people I didn't really come to a general consensus.  Common sense seems to dictate that it wouldn't be completely harmless.  To the internet of course!  What I found was that if the joint cracking was accompanied by pain it's not a good thing.  Dehydration and vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause cause these problems.  Fortunately for me my joint cracking isn't painful.

I found that the more benign reason that joints seem to crack has to do with air trapped within the joints.  When bending occurs in them then the air can be forced out, causing a cracking noise.  This is still not completely confirmed but it's the best theory.  And in this case the joint cracking or popping is considered fairly harmless and should not lead to arthritis!  I think I feel a bit better now.