S E19: Ep 19 – Noisy joints? why do they click and should you be worried?

Hello and welcome to the Pain Free Living Podcast with me, your host, Bob Allen.

I'm an osteopath.

And today we're going to talk about something you may or may not have heard of, but you've definitely experienced.

And it's called crepitus.

It doesn't sound great.

It's.

It sounds like it's a potential problem.

It can be, but let's break it down and you'll understand where I'm coming from on this one.

So crepitus, it tends to happen as we get older.

It's that creeping, creaking, crunching sound that snap, crackle and pop when sometimes when you get up out of a chair, when you kneel down, when you bend forward.

So sorts of things.

It's those noises that our joints make that can make us feel really old.

So what is crepitus?

It can be when people crack the knuckles, for example.

I can't do that on camera because I'm not very good at that.

But there are people that can crack their knuckles and crack all their joints to, to the irritation of a lot of people.

But yeah, so that is a form of crevice.

Basically what happens is when you press that joint, it changes the pressure in the joint.

So then you get a bubble of air, a bubble of gas, not air forms and collapses and that leads to that cracking noise, that popping noise.

So that's one form.

Harlow, there was a guy, but he just to prove that cracking your knuckles did no harm at all.

He spent days and days, and I think he actually did it for about a year where he just cracked all the knuckles on one side of his hand and not on the other.

And the result was nothing, made absolutely no difference, did not encourage arthritis, did not cause any problems whatsoever.

So the cracking and popping of knuckles is fine.

Where it gets a little bit different, a little bit stickier is where people self manipulate their joints and where they'll crack their necks and they'll crack their backs and those kinds of things.

Now that's not good because what tends to happen is that you've got a couple of joints where one of them is a little bit stiff.

The ones above and below are moving.

Okay, so what can happen is that where that stiffness is, that can get a little bit irritated and a little bit sore.

So what people will do is they will try and click that.

Click the joint and they will get some relief from that if they carry on clicking the joint Then what happens is the stiff joint gets stiffer.

The joints above and below, which are the ones that actually click, get looser, and that can cause more problems down the line.

So my advice to anyone is click your knuckles for all they're worth.

Don't self manipulate your spine.

I can do that.

When I do it, I can isolate the joint down to the one that's a little bit stiff.

So when I manipulate a joint, that's what I'm doing.

When you're manipulating a joint, what tends to happen is you're manipulating the wrong joint because you don't narrow down which one needs to be clipped.

And that, as I said, that can cause problems because some joints become too loose, some joints stay stiff.

So, word of advice, don't self manipulate.

Another thing that can cause clicking in joints is where you've got a ligament or a tendon just pinging across the bony surface.

So typically when that happens, that is, a lot of people get that with the hips.

So you flex the hip, so you bring the knee up, and then when you let it go down again, you can get a little click.

Now, again, that's not an issue.

If you do it all the time.

What can happen is as that tendon goes across the joint, it can get a little bit, a little bit irritated and a little bit sore.

So that's rare.

It doesn't happen very often, but it can happen.

How do you tell the difference between a bony click or a tendon flicking across a bone?

If you click the joint and you can't do it again for 10 to 15 minutes, then that's where you're clicking a joint.

If you can do it repeatedly, one after the other, that's where a tendon's flicking across bone.

Like I said, neither of them are a major issue.

But just so you know, when your joints are creaking, cracking and crunching, that's what's going on.

The key thing about that is crepitus is not a problem unless it starts to get painful.

If it gets painful, then that means that there's some irritation going on, there's some inflammation going on, it can get red, it can get sore, it can get angry.

And if that happens, that's when you need to come see your GP or come and see somebody like myself, and we can work out what you've done and then we can help to release it.

A typical example of that is a knee joint where the knee starts to either lock up or it starts to feel like it wants to give weight.

There's some nice thick chunks of cartilage sit between the thigh bone and the shin bone.

And if that cartilage gets a little bit torn, a bit wear and tear on it, then that can start to cause some restriction in the joint, can start to get a bit tender, can cause some inflammation.

So if that happens, then yeah, you really need to see someone and get that sorted out.

So most of the time it will resolve on its own, some of the time it won't and that's when you need to go to get some help.

So, yeah, so the next time your joints are cracking like a box of Rice Krispies, don't get stressed.

If there's no pain associated with it, that can carry on forever.

If you do start to develop some pain, then you need to get it looked at.

So, yeah, that's it really.

If you've got any questions, comments, you want to record yourself clicking your joints.

No, don't do that.

Then pop them in the comments below.

Thanks for listening and I'll see you on the next one.