Creaky, Popping Knees? Here’s What You Should Know

Knee creaks and pops are surprisingly common, with many patients reporting hearing noise when during flexion (when you bend a body part and bring the joints closer together) and extension (when you straighten the joint) their knees or when doing squats. While these noises can happen because of an individual’s physiology, they are often a manifestation of disease or injury.

Causes of Creaky, Popping Knees

One of the most common causes of popping sounds in the knee is trapped air bubbles. The knee joint is the meeting place for three major bones in the leg: the patella (knee cap), femur (thigh bone), and tibia (shin bone). The knee joint is lubricated with a thick fluid called synovial fluid, which helps to reduce friction between the bones when your joint moves (U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Sometimes air bubbles can get trapped in the fluid, and the movement and popping of these air bubbles can cause small popping or creaking sounds (ProHealth Prolotherapy Clinic, 2022).

Hearing a clicking sound in the knee during flexion/extension is very common, and often associated with a torn meniscus. Meniscus tears usually happen when the knee is suddenly twisted or rotated during physical activity, although they can also happen when squatting or doing heavy lifting. Grinding noises in the knee can be indicative of osteoarthritis and similar conditions that degrade joint health and cause the bones within the knee joint to come into direct contact with one another. A sudden onset creaking or pop in the knee can potentially be due to an injury. Typically there would be an onset of pain and swelling in conjunction with the sound if it is due to a new injury.

If you’re unsure whether knee sounds are due to an injury, we encourage you to talk to one of SageMED’s physical medicine doctors and have your knee joint evaluated.

Reference

ProHealth Prolotherapy Clinic. (2022, April). Creaky knees. ProHealth. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://prohealthclinic.co.uk/blog/creaky-knees/ —-

U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Synovial fluid analysis: MedlinePlus Medical Test. MedlinePlus. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/synovial-fluid-analysis/