Healthytalk8 What is clicking?
Contents
The knees click sound is quite normal, and among other bones joints, you can listen this sound when:
- When you do squat
- while wake
- sometimes occur when you get up from a chair or do a morning stretch
- when you go upstairs or downstairs
A doctor or in the medical field popping, snapping, cracking, grinding, grating, clunking, and clicking is called crepitus.
In most cases, this clinking sound hasn’t created any problem and it is not an early sign of bone disease.
A study found that crepitus was reported in 38.1% of women and 17.1% of men over 40 years of age peoples.
But if clicking among with pain occurs, then you should consult the doctor. But why is this clicking sound coming from the knees and other joints?
Reason Behind the popping or knees click
This sound occurs when tiny air bubbles accumulate within the fluid inside the joints.
Then they collapse or burst due to changes in pressure inside the joint when you move or just get up, which creates a popping sound.
It’s basically when bubbles burst and a popping sound comes, this bubble bursting is called cavitation.
This fluid or lubrication called Synovial fluid works as a cushion to the ends of bones and reduces friction between joints.
It is the same process as when you click your knuckles.
However, you cannot click the same amount of quick succession including spinal, and finger joints, because gas formation takes 20 minutes.
Check Out – Ways To Maintain Your Bone Health – According To Research
Clicking or popping sound happens due to several reasons apart from arthritis are:
Air bubbles
It is a natural process where air bubbles burst when we move and lead to a popping sound from knees or other joints.
This type of popping sound can also occur in joints other than the knee and is more occur in the knuckle joint of the hands (2)
It happens to everyone over time but doesn’t cause any pain.
Movement of Ligaments or Tendons
Ligaments and tendons around the knees, when your joints move, it slightly pass over a small bony lump, then came back in place.
This causes a clicking sound in the knees.
The clicking sound of the knee joint is generally caused by the biceps femoris tendon at the lateral aspect of the normal knee joint.
A study suggested that crepitus may represent the first symptom of patellofemoral OA
Arthritis
Crepitus, include not any history of injury, may indicate cartilage lesions in inflammatory arthritis (3) (4)
Arthritis is defined as acute and chronic joint inflammation and often leads to pain and structural damage to joints (5)
However, there are several reasons that increase the risk of your arthritis are:
- Obesity
- rheumatoid arthritis (in this our immune system attack our joint parts that keep joins friction-free)
- family history
- age
- gender (women are more prone to bone disease than men)
- history of joints injury
Osteoarthritis is the most common kind of arthritis, it mostly occurs in mid-aged and older people (7)
Injured
Crepitus can be caused by an injury that could be a previous injury, falling on the kneecap, or other parts of the knee joint.
A popping sound may be caused by:
- Old meniscus tear – commonly seen in players, where injury can generate a popping sound, also pain, sensation, difficulty in moving, and swelling.
- Cartilage injury – A sudden impact, or direct pressure on the knee, can able to tear or damage cartilage.
- patellofemoral instability or pain syndrome – It occurs when you put too much pressure on the patella (the largest sesamoid bone in our body)
sesamoid (a small bone that is commonly found embedded within a muscle or tendon near joint surfaces)
In this, the front of the knee is mostly affected, which becomes worse when a person climbs stairs or bends, causing a popping sound and swelling.
Surgery
Most of the popping sound is natural, which doesn’t mean that you have an early stage of bone disease called arthritis.
However, knee clicking is also quite common after knee surgery during the first year.
The study showed noise may come to a patient after knee surgery due to increased awareness based on heightened concern.
When To Consult The Doctor?
There are several signs that after seen or occur then you should worry about and consult your doctor are:
If the clicking sound occurs outside of the knee, then you consult the doctor, because it may be related to the iliotibial band (ITB).
Clicking sound with pain occur may indicate a meniscus tear (a small piece of loose cartilage caught in the knee) and a runner’s knee.
- If the clicking sound occurs back of your knee is called a baker’s cyst.
- pain
- swelling or inflammation
- difficulty in moving or walking
- if a clicking sound occurs in front of your knee, there may be due to plica, which may be injured
We all have 4 in the knee but sometimes they can be a little thicker, result injured to the surrounding soft tissue or bones.
This can cause Crepitus, and most of the time it is painful, but if occur with pain, then it may indicate plica syndrome.
Is popping the knee Normal?
Many people worry about popping knee sounds, even I was also worried, that the popping sound from the knees is a sign of illness.
Simple – popping knee sound is a natural phenomenon where a burst of fluid bubbles makes this sound when we move, and get up.
There is no evidence shows that it will progress as we get old, and leads to pain (7)
If the popping sound comes with pain, when you move, squad, then you should consult the doctor, it may be a warning sign of bone illness.
If a loud pop with pain at the time of injury is usually a sign of damage to the ligaments of the meniscus (8)
What Can I Do About It?
You should not do anything, because it is a natural process, but, if it comes along with pain, then you should definitely do this thing:
- Exercises for stretching and strengthening the muscles structure include:
- calf stretching
- hip flexor
- resistance band
- inner thigh squats, which are common stretching exercises (8)
- ball bridges
- VMO activation
- twisted leg raise
- ball wall squats, this is popular for strengthening muscle exercises (9)
The doctor may recommend you some ways to reduce noise along with pain which include:
- Weight management exercises like walking, swimming, tai chi
- medication
- physical therapy
- using nonsteroidal and anti-inflammatory drugs
- applying a heat pack to reduce inflammation
- cognitive behavioral therapy
The management of popping noise will also depend on the underlying cause if it requires surgery, then it will.
OA is a bunch of treatments that (10) include:
- Reducing swelling, and pain
- giving protection to further damage
- physical therapy
- strengthening the muscles that support the knee
Tips for healthy knees
Ways to maintain bone health are essential, especially for those who suffer from bone issues, and after 30 age bone density starts decreasing.
There are several ways to maintain healthy knees and bone are included:
- Exercises
- Weight-bearing exercises are any activity in which your feet and legs carry your own weight like – walking, hiking, climbing, dancing, etc.
- Resistance exercises such as lifting weights, squats, lunges, etc
- Consumed-rich calcium foods
- Green leafy vegetables like – broccoli, cabbage, and okra, but not spinach
- nuts
- dairy products like milk, cheese, paneer, and yogurt, if you are lactose, so consume lactose-free products like Swiss, and Parmesan cheese.
- fortified cereal or orange juice
- soy products, like soya beans, drink, etc
- Consume vitamin D3 and K
- sunlight
- dietary products – fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, egg yolks, mushrooms, orange juice, and almond milk.
- Green leafy vegetables are the best source of vitamin K
- kale
- spinach
- collards
- mustard greens
- fish
- liver
- eggs
- cereals
- kiwi
- avocado
- prunes
- Maintain healthy weights – Being overweight affects your knee health, where being overweight put more pressure on your leg bone, which is allied with the risk of joint pain.
Down Line
Popping knee noise is common, and usually painless and harmless, if pain or swelling occurs with sound, then need to consult the doctor.
The most common reason for the popping sound is tiny gas bubbles formation and when we move, they burst, which makes a popping sound.
Management of pathological noise (often allied with pain and swelling) will depend on the underlying cause.
