Joint creaking/popping

[Erik Sjolin]

I had a question about this sort of thing. I'm only 19, but as a fitness enthusiast I'm still concerned about it.

When I do a lot of stretching, or exercises which involve a large range of motion, my joints (knuckles, knees, shoulders) sound like popcorn on the oven. I don't think that this is a healthy thing to be hearing; are there any specific exercises or practices I can do to help alleviate this?

[Hivoyer]

There are three reasons joints can make creaking and popping sounds:

1.Arthritic Jointst:Either the cartilage is jurt torn and bumpy and it grinds or there is actualy a broken piece of cartilage between the parts of the joint and it gets stuck,causing the joint to sometimes lock up.This sort of popping will 100% be accompanied by sharp pain,swelling and a burning sensation.

http://z.about.com/d/orthopedics/1/0/8/5/kneearthritis.jpg -picture of arthritic knee.The cartilage is worn out and the bones grind together,causing noise and damage.

2.Ligaments and tendon snapping:Sometimes these "bugs" occure in the joints,aspecialy in children and teenagers,because their different parts of the joints grow with different speed.From time to time a tendon would slide over a more bumpy part of the bone and it would get stretched,after which it immediately snaps back to it's place,hitting the bone and making this noise.It happens when you twist and pop your neck,your wrists,knees and your knuckles.It shouldn't be painful,unless you do it very hard.It doesn't deal damage in most of the cases,but intentionaly stretching ligaments like this can cause them over time(months or years) to become longer and weaker.

http://www.iconocast.com/News08_Files/A3EB0/News9A_clip_image003.jpg -imagine the Anterior longitudinal ligament how it would stretch over the vertebrea when you twist your neck or bend it forcefuly sideways.

3.Release of gasses from the joint fluids:This also happens when you pop your joints intentionaly,but it happens only when the joint parts are actualy pulled away from eachother,like when you press your knuckles very hard against the palm of the other hand,then gasses from the joint fluid escape into the surrounding soft tissue and get quickly absorbed back into the fluid.This causes the popping sound.It is also harmless in most cases.You could have heard about the researcher who for 20 years cracked his left knuclkes 2 times daily and stated,that he had no problems,but his left hand had become weaker.This is not to be taken as conclusive,because in the human body two limbs are never of equal strenght anyway.

http://www.humanisamiracle.com/7_clip_image009.jpg -to help you visualise how the phenomenom with the joint fluid occurs.

Since you didn't say you had pain or swelling and you didn't cause it intentionaly,i would say it's most likely reason 2.In most people it occurs in the albows and wrists when doing pushups and in knees when doing squats.Interestingly,when you exercise your ligaments may become longer,but also with increased strenght.Anyway,if there is no joint instability,no swelling,pain or other symptoms that may suggest there is a serious problem,you shouldn't really be worried.If it annoys you,try doing a longer warmup before exercise and try to reduce the intensity of stretches after exercise.

[Erik Sjolin]

Thank you good sir. It's never been particularily painful (aside from the brief period where I was training the back lever with the wrong hand direction), but I'm always a little worried when I hear it. It seems to happen most often in my right shoulder when I do wide stance push ups, and since I've had a history of trouble with my knees (due to numerous hard landings over a period of years), injury was the first place my mind went.