Crepitus

This article is about the medical term Crepitus, for the Roman god, see Crepitus (mythology)

Crepitus is a medical term to describe the grating, crackling or popping sounds and sensations experienced under the skin and joints. The soundcan be created when two rough surfaces in the humanbody come into contact - for example, in osteoarthritis(where the cartilagearound joints has eroded away, and jointsgrind against one another), or when the ends of two broken bones rub together. In soft tissues, crepitus can be produced when gas is introduced into an area where it normally isn't present. The term can also be used when describing the sounds produced by lung conditions such as emphysema. Crepitus is often loud enough to be heard by the human ear, although a stethoscopemay be needed to detect incidences caused by respiratory diseases.

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It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepitus Wikipedia article Crepitus.