Do your ankles, knees, or shoulders sometimes make a clicking sound? You might be wondering if that’s normal…or whether it could be a sign of something like arthritis. Well, you’re not alone! One survey found that around 41% of people experience clicking or popping sounds from their knee joints. While it can be a little unsettling, it’s not always something to worry about. Understanding what causes those clicks and when it might be a real cause for concern can help to keep your joints healthy and flexible.
What Does a Clicking Joint Feel and Sound Like?
A clicking joint can be loud and sudden, or quiet and repetitive, and might happen when you stretch or straighten a limb out, or take a step. It could even feel like a grinding sensation, and these can occur in almost any joint, including your knees, shoulders, hips, and spine.
The majority of the time, the clicking should not be painful. It could happen only occasionally, like when you stand after sitting for a prolonged period, or more frequently while exercising. However, if it is accompanied by pain, swelling, or stiffness, it could be worth paying a little more attention, as these could be signs of something more than just a harmless click.
What is Crepitus?
“Crepitus” is the medical word that is used to describe the clicking, cracking, and grinding sounds from your joints and does not automatically refer to arthritis or other worrying forms of damage.
To date, experts haven’t reached a consensus on why it is exactly that some joints crack. The main thing to remember, though, is that if your clicking joints aren’t hurting or swollen, you most likely do not have anything to worry about. If those clicks come with other symptoms though, such as stiffness, pain, or swelling, it may be time to bring it up with your GP.
There are a few different reasons that your joints might get a little noisy sometimes, and in most cases, crepitus is completely harmless.
Causes of Clicking Joints
Common, harmless causes:
- One of the most common causes is tiny gas bubbles forming and bursting in the joint’s synovial fluid (the natural lubricant helping your joints move smoothly) as you move around or stretch, or carry out any activity that requires you to flex your joints.
- Other times it can also be caused by tissues such as tendons or ligaments moving over the bones that make up your joints when you bend or stretch them.
- Ageing can play a role too, as we get older cartilage thins a little and this can make your joints noisier.
Possible medical causes:
- Osteoarthritis can cause noisy joints, when the cartilage wears down your bones can rub together and this can create those grinding and clicking sounds.
- When you injure your cartilage, this can cause clicking sounds or locking (this happens quite commonly with the meniscus, a shock absorbing piece of cartilage in the knee).
While there are certainly some causes worth getting looked at, it’s important not to jump to conclusions. As you now know, most joint noises are completely benign, but if the clicking is persistent, painful, accompanied by swelling, or you’re finding it harder to move, it’s a good idea to seek out some form of medical advice.
What You Can Do About Clicking Joints
When it comes to harmless joint clicking, the best thing you can do is keep your joints strong, flexible, and supported.
- Stay active: regular, low impact exercises including swimming, cycling, and walking which can help to keep your joints mobile.
- Strengthen muscles: building up the muscle around your joints (the knees and hips in particular!) helps to stabilise and protect them.
- Stretch regularly: gentle stretching exercises help greatly to reduce stiffness.
- Maintain a healthy weight: carrying additional weight can add pressure to your knee and hip joints, increasing both pain and the likelihood of crepitus, but also the likelihood of further damage.
- It can also help to avoid overloading your joints with repetitive, high impact exercises and activities if you find that they’re causing discomfort.
When to See a Doctor About Clicking Joints
You do not need to rush to your GP for every little click, but there are definitely signs that it’s time to get checked out.
Seek medical advice if you notice:
- Pain or swelling around the joint
- Stiffness and/or a reduced range of motion
- Persistent clicking, or clicking that gets worse over time
- Joints locking, giving way, or feeling unstable
A physiotherapist or GP can assess your symptoms, rule out injuries, and suggest treatment options if you require them. Early diagnosis can make a major difference in what your options are and how effective the treatment is, especially where osteoarthritis is concerned.
Is Clicking a Sign of Arthritis?
Not necessarily. Clicking joints can happen to anyone at any age and are often completely normal, nothing to worry about at all. However, in some cases, it can be linked to osteoarthritis which is a condition where the cartilage cushioning the ends of bones wears down, exposing the bone itself, and causing them to rub against one another.
When this happens, movement can feel rougher, and clicking or grinding sounds might begin to appear. The good news is that when diagnosed early, there are effective ways to treat the symptoms. Regular exercise and physiotherapy can help, as well as supportive treatments including drug-free gels like FlexiSEQ which lubricates the joints to improve movement and reduce pain and stiffness.
Catching osteoarthritis early and before it becomes too limiting means that you can take control and keep moving.
Most of the time, a clicking or popping joint isn’t anything to panic about. It’s often just a sound your body makes as it moves, nothing more. By paying attention to your body, staying active, maintaining a healthy weight, and exploring different treatments for any aches or pains you do encounter, you can combat pain early and maintain healthy joints.