The knees are a rather weak part of the human body that is prone to various diseases. Both adults and very young children suffer from ailments associated with the knee joints. Quite often, patients ask doctors the question: if their knees creak, what should they do?

The knee joint can bend and extend. In this case, all movements are performed silently. If a person has, it is worth considering whether this is a signal about the presence of any problems in the body.

Physiological and pathological causes of the phenomenon

Crunch in knee joint has a physiological and pathological nature. The physiological type is characterized by a sound like a crackling sound. Crunching in the knees occurs both during active and passive movements (for example, when bending or straightening the leg or fingers). There are the following suspected causes of physiological crunching in the knees.

1. During motor activity, the ligamentous apparatus touches the protruding part of the bones. The crunching sounds dull and is most often heard in the shoulder and wrist joints.
2. At active actions The surfaces of two bones in contact move relative to each other, resulting in negative pressure. IN synovial fluid Special bubbles consisting of vacuum begin to form. Therefore, the crunching sound is a vacuum pop.
3. Rupture of adhesions in the joint cavity or sprain ligamentous apparatus. Crunching in the knee structures due to these reasons occurs quite rarely.

Crunching in the knee joint can occur due to some pathology. It is often heard when certain motor acts are repeated, in the presence of pain or in the absence of a refractory period. The cause of the pathological crunch is considered to be a violation of the contact of joint surfaces. This violation can be observed in diseases that affect the cartilage of the knee joint and change its structure. Examples of such diseases include arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Specific factors for the occurrence of crunching

Common causes of pain and crunching are processes inflammatory in nature, localized in the periarticular tissue, or any traumatic injuries. Examples include inflammation affecting the knee muscles (bursitis), tendonitis, and meniscal injuries (tear, fracture).

Inflammatory diseases have the following symptoms:

• creaking when moving the knee;
• soreness;
• swelling;
• increase in local temperature;
• decreased motor activity.

If the patient has signs of these symptoms, it is necessary to urgently seek advice from a rheumatologist or therapist. A crunch in the knee joint may have other specific factors of its origin. They affect the body indirectly, but impair the nutrition and functioning of organs. These factors are:

• excess weight;
• burdened heredity;
• violations in endocrine system: diabetes mellitus and other similar diseases;
• old age;
• viral infections (they can act as a trigger for joint inflammation);
• poor nutrition: consumption of salty foods, excessively sweet foods;
• diseases that are accompanied by deposits mineral salts in joint tissue, for example, gout, chronic disease kidney

What to do if the crunch occurs due to injury? In this case, you need to consult a traumatologist and surgeon. The doctor will conduct an examination, prescribe examination and treatment.

How to get rid of a crackling joint

How to get rid of crunching in the knee joints? First of all, you need to consult a doctor and understand what is the reason for the crunch. If this is a large physical load on the joint, then it is necessary to reduce it for a while. The knees will be relaxed and the crunching will be significantly reduced. To give your joints a rest, it is recommended to soak in a hot bath. Procedures using heat relieve muscle tension and increase blood circulation.

Crunching should be treated only after examination and consultation with a specialist. The most common diseases are arthritis and arthrosis of the knee joints. These ailments lead to degenerative changes in cartilage tissue and joint deformation. Drug treatment for arthritis, it is aimed at restoring cartilage and maintaining its structure. What to do if deformation of the knee joints has already occurred? Treatment in this case can only be surgical: endoprosthetics is used.

With progression, drug treatment:

• ointments and tablets that have an anti-inflammatory effect;
• painkillers;
• chondroprotectors.

If joints crack due to a person’s large body weight, it is recommended to adhere to a strict diet. Before eliminating certain foods from your diet, you should consult a nutritionist. An important element is the use of physical therapy. All exercises should be selected by the attending physician. The essence of exercise therapy is to strengthen muscle mass on the legs and reducing the load on the knees. A specialist may recommend swimming and exercise in water.

Is it possible and how to get rid of the crunch? folk ways? Such treatment should be carried out in conjunction with the therapy prescribed by the doctor. There are a number known means to fight pain. The most effective among them are the following.

1. Gelatin. In the evening, pour 5 g of the substance into 1 glass of water. In the morning, add another 50 ml of water to the prepared mixture. Mix well. Take on an empty stomach.
2. Eucalyptus oil, which can be purchased at the pharmacy. For crunching, pain and inflammation in the knee joint, compresses are used.
3. Cabbage leaf compress. The sheet is applied to the affected joint, secured with a bandage and scarf.

Treatment with folk remedies does not replace basic therapeutic measures. This therapy is only accompanying.

Crunching in the knees when squatting is a common phenomenon both among athletes and among those who have never gone to the gym. A squat does not necessarily involve a barbell; it is a movement that involves standing up from or sitting down on a chair, or squatting down. Let's figure out what's the matter and why do my knees click?

Briefly about the structure of the knee

We promise not to burden you with the anatomical complexities of the knee joint. Although, the joint is really complex. To understand why the knee is so vulnerable, let's look inside it, what is there under the skin?

And there are several structures connected together - the head of the tibia and femur, meniscus and ligaments, due to which this entire structure is held together. If you touch your kneecap, you will notice that it is movable. Now imagine how complex nature has come up with everything to ensure mobility and, at the same time, strength and physiologically correct functionality of the knee joint. This is not your elbow, although that one is also not entirely simple.

Inside the knee there is joint fluid. If it is deficient, severe friction of the bones against each other will begin, the knee will swell and lose all mobility. By the way, you may have already begun to understand why your knees may hurt. For example, due to lack of joint fluid.

Why the knee may suffer:

1. Violation of the structure of any component of the joint (cartilage, bone, ligaments).
2. Violation of the composition or volume of joint fluid.
3. Violation of the composition of cartilage and ligaments.

These are the reasons why the knee crunches when squatting. If one of the listed conditions appears, it becomes much easier to damage the knee than in healthy body. In a normally functioning body, the knee can be damaged only by putting a huge load on it, that is, by tearing a ligament or damaging the cartilage. But the knee will immediately swell and be very painful.

It’s a different matter for the problems indicated under points 1, 2, 3. Violations occur gradually, and it all starts with a crunch (a click is heard when bending). So, let's talk about that crunching and clicking sound that many people hear when walking up stairs, squats and other movements associated with bending the legs at the knee.

Causes of crunching

Knees crunch or creak for several reasons. Now it will be more clear to you what and how, after a short anatomical excursion from the previous section:

1. Nutrition problems.
2. Metabolic problems.
3. Pathological conditions: inflammatory infectious and non-infectious processes in the knee joint (for example, arthritis).

Eating problems

Typically, a person does not consume enough substances that form joints and joint fluid. The joint contains glycosaminoglycans (GAGs): chondroitin and glucosamine. This is the basis for cartilage tissue.

In normal life, knee problems can appear after 50 years of age. If you squat with a barbell and work out steadily in gym– the body will need much more of these same GAGs than during the normal rhythm of life. Accordingly, you need to get more of them from your diet.

That is why athletes are recommended to use supplements in the form of “glucosamine + chondroitin”. This " ambulance"for our joints. AND we're talking about not only about the knee, but also about all other joints. After all, they also consist of the same substances. So the reasons for crunching knees may lie in poor nutrition.

Next is water. It must be consumed in the right quantity. 2-4 liters per day, depending on weight. You say: “there will be swelling!” But no, if you don’t eat a lot of salt, and if your kidneys are healthy, edema will not appear, because the liquid will calmly pass through the body and be absorbed into required quantities, and the excess will be removed from the body. So it was, and so it will be.

Metabolism

Crunching in the knees when squats is precisely due to the fact that necessary substances not enough. But why are these substances missing if a person eats right?

In this case we are talking about metabolic disorders. The body cannot absorb substances in the required quantities, the body gains weight, shortness of breath and increased sweating appear.

The issue can be resolved by going to an endocrinologist. Here you cannot treat yourself, because you don’t know what to treat, much less how. Forget the advice of colorful sites on the Internet. Just go to the endocrinologist and say: “I’m worried about my metabolism, is everything okay with it?” Next, trust the doctor.

Knees crack and click not only in adults; the problem can also arise in a teenager if he has problems with the endocrine glands. The reasons for this may be genetic abnormalities or poor lifestyle.

If your knees creak when squatting, it makes sense to limit the load until the exact cause is determined. Perhaps it’s worth switching to more gentle exercises for now.

Diseases

What diseases cause crunchy knees? For those associated with damage to cartilage tissue, inflammatory processes or injuries.

The infectious agent disrupts the physiological balance inside the knee and triggers destruction processes. Swelling, inflammation, changes in the composition of fluids - all this leads to crunching and pain.

Crackling and crunching noises begin to appear while walking up stairs, when bending your legs, even from a lying position. This way you can clarify whether there is a crunch or not. Usually you can hear it well.

If the crunching causes discomfort, you should see a doctor. Moreover, doctors are different. Someone will send you home with the words: “don’t invent a disease for yourself,” but someone will actually help. So don’t despair if the doctor turns out to be the most mediocre creature on the planet. There will always be a normal specialist.

What to do if your knees are cracking

What to do if a crunch appears? Is it possible to continue studying and why?

Let's look at everything in order.

If you have a crunch, try to reconsider your diet. You need to start looking for a problem from the very simple reasons. If the problem is nutritional, then it is easiest to solve.

Try adding it to your diet for a couple of weeks. fish oil or fish fatty varieties, sunflower oil in unrefined raw form. It is best to buy special supplements for cartilage tissue at a sports store and also add them to the menu.

If the crunching doesn’t go away and pain appears, then it’s not entirely a matter of nutrition. It is better to consult a specialist (rheumatologist).

Pay attention to your weight, if it is more than 100 kg, maybe that’s the problem? If you limit yourself in calories, but the weight still goes up, you should consult an endocrinologist.

Finally, if you have knee pain at night, you should definitely see a doctor. Local warming compresses are powerless in this situation; it is necessary to eliminate the infectious agent from the body. Compresses have never dealt with this alone.

If you hurt your knee, it is swollen and painful, it is also better to make an appointment with a doctor. If after a bruise or fall the pain is very severe and acute, call an ambulance. You should also be careful if your child breaks his knee. After all, children cannot always accurately describe their feelings.

Do not self-medicate if the pain does not go away!

And the most important parting word: if the situation has not changed within 2-3 weeks, you have become worse (we mean the time from the onset of discomfort, and not from the moment acute pain when you need to see a specialist immediately) – go to the hospital.

Is it possible to play sports with a crunch?

If you have a crunch and need to do squats, you need to pay attention to the following points:

1. Sit down without weight and decide whether this crunch brings you discomfort or pain.
2. Try squatting with weights for the same purpose.
3. Wrap around your knees elastic bandages and squat with weight - if the crunch has disappeared, then you can calmly practice. If not, squat more carefully, listening to the sensations. If pain occurs, you should stop exercising until the cause is determined.

For those people who complain of crunching in their knees, we recommend doing squats not to parallel with the floor, but higher. It is enough to bend your knees 50–70 degrees so that the leg muscles already receive a load. Don't listen to coaches who will shout at you that you are doing it wrong. Your knees. In addition, people who have not encountered this problem cannot always adequately assess your condition.

You can apply warming ointment to your knees. Just use it in small quantities, because under a bandage it can cause a strong burning sensation.

And lastly: if your knees are cracking, think about whether it’s worth going further to set records? Your body is already signaling that it will be difficult for it to perform squats with heavy weights. And if you don't listen to him, everything could end sadly. Let's listen and respect our bodies, gentlemen!

Many people often notice a spontaneous crunch in their knees. In what cases is it necessary to visit a doctor, what should I do? Launched pathological processes lead to arthrosis, serious complications which can cause loss of the knee joint.

If you notice a crunch in the knee during physical activity or normal flexion-extension of the joint, you should immediately consult a doctor. A timely visit to the doctor will relieve discomfort and prevent the development of serious diseases and further disability.

Causes of pathology

A crunch in your knee will not just appear. This event is necessarily preceded by some negative factor. It is important to identify the cause of the pathology, only then begin correct treatment. Doctors identify several main negative factors, affecting the occurrence of pain, discomfort and crunching in the knee joint:

• lifting weights, especially when playing sports. Without calculating your strength, you can provoke a crunch in the knee and other unpleasant symptoms;
• wearing uncomfortable tight shoes has a particularly negative effect on the knee frequent use high heel shoes. It is forbidden to wear shoes with flat soles; they contribute to the development of flat feet, which leads to weakening of muscles and ligaments. In this case, the knee takes on the load and wears out quickly;
• a sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity leads to a weakening of the muscle frame, due to which the knee takes on the load, there is a high risk of developing various diseases this joint;
• excessive body weight. Extra pounds They constantly put pressure on the knee joints, the cartilage layer becomes loose and thins. It is gradually launching inflammatory processes, which provokes crunching and discomfort in the knee. The only way out of this situation is to reduce your body weight;
• eating a huge amount of salty and sweet foods. It is possible to cope with the pathology only by following a diet; after giving up some foods, the crunch goes away within a few weeks;
• deficiency in the body useful vitamins and minerals (especially calcium). Dehydration also leads to discomfort in the knee joint;
• availability congenital anomalies development of joints, trauma in the patient’s history;
• the onset of an illness called, or, sometimes a crunch accompanies various types of inflammation in the knee area;
• age-related changes in the knee joints;
• course of infectious diseases;
• The pathology is often accompanied by hormonal imbalances.

Crunching in the knees may be the first sign of the onset of the disease. Visit a doctor immediately especially if the pathology is accompanied severe pain, swelling in the knee area.

If a crunch occurs in the knee joint in children, there is no need to worry. The children's musculoskeletal system begins to form, the joints are elastic and fragile. During growth, the muscular system strengthens, and the crunch goes away over time. But in any case, visit your pediatrician, exclude the course of serious diseases and developmental anomalies.

Find out the instructions for using the drug for rheumatoid arthritis.

About the symptoms and treatment of vertebral displacement lumbar region spine read the page.

Characteristic symptoms

Usually the crunch is loud and accompanies movements in the knee joint. Complement the unpleasant picture of pain varying degrees severity, swelling of the knee area. Neglected cases or serious pathologies accompanied by increased body temperature, impaired motor function this joint.

Diagnostics

For appointment correct scheme therapy, the doctor prescribes certain diagnostic measures, allowing you to identify the cause of a crunch in the knee:

• laboratory tests, most often include general analysis blood, if infectious diseases are suspected, prescribe additional tests, allowing to identify the causative agent of the disease;
• Ultrasound of nearby tissues;
• X-ray studies can reveal degenerative changes in the joint;
• computer or magnetic resonance imaging allows you to thoroughly study the existing pathology (if any).

Based on the results obtained, the doctor puts correct diagnosis, prescribes the necessary course of therapy. In most cases, a diet is required, others useful recommendations doctor The presence of serious diseases obliges the patient to resort to drug therapy, use home methods, perform gymnastics. Only an integrated approach serious attitude taking care of your health is the key to a quick recovery.

General rules of treatment

How to get rid of crunching knees? You can cope with pathology in the joints not only with the help of medications and folk remedies. Sometimes, to eliminate pathology, it is enough to follow some useful tips:

• Take a multivitamin that includes plenty of calcium and magnesium. Best option– use medications intended to restore joints;
• exclude salty and sweet food. It is prohibited to include cakes, sweets, marinades, sauces, and preserves in the diet. All of the above products contribute to the accumulation of salts in the body, they are deposited in the joints. When a critical amount accumulates harmful substances there are problems with the joints, in particular crunching;
• add foods containing calcium to your diet (cottage cheese, lean meats and fish, kefir). Over time, joints become depleted, calcium will help fill the affected areas. Such manipulations are especially important for a child, his body is in the stage of growth;
• give up high heels. Women in pursuit fashion trends strain the knee joints (due to the heel, the balance of the body and center of gravity is disrupted). The ideal heel height is five centimeters;
• give preference to moderates physical activity. If there are congenital or acquired pathologies of the joints in mandatory Before starting training, consult your doctor. Avoid athletics team games, give preference to fitness or classes in the gym (only with a trainer).

Sticking to simple rules, you will protect your knee joints from damage, cope with crunching, and improve your well-being.

Drug therapy

When identifying any joint diseases, doctors first relieve pain (including crunching) and inflammation. For this purpose, tablets, ointments, special creams and injections are used. An approximate course of drug therapy for a crunch in the knee is as follows:

• apply . The course is prescribed by the doctor, in view of wide range side effects;
• to eliminate pathologies affecting cartilage tissue, use . The drugs are aimed at regenerating joints, which eliminates discomfort;
• newest and expensive, but very effective way– . The substance is able to replace the natural lubrication in the joint, neutralizing the unpleasant crunch;
• Dietary supplements have proven themselves well. Drugs in this group restore cartilage tissue, improve the condition of intra-articular fluid, which eliminates the unpleasant crunch in the knee.

Pay attention! Additionally, it is necessary to use other methods of therapy, in addition to medications. For crunching, elastic bandages, bandages, and in some cases even plaster casts. Physiotherapy is used to treat any diseases and pathologies: shock wave therapy, laser exposure, electrophoresis. Depending on the disease it is used therapeutic exercises, all exercises are discussed with the attending physician.

Folk remedies and recipes

Natural medicines are used at home and work well with unpleasant sensations, relieve inflammation, eliminate crunch in the knee. It is important to use them correctly Please discuss the use of folk remedies with your doctor in advance:

• chestnut infusion. Fill with chestnut flowers liter jar, pour vodka, leave the product for a month in a dark place, preferably three. After the specified time, use the finished tincture as a rub. The course of treatment should not exceed two weeks. If the pain in the knee does not go away during this time, abandon this method and consult a doctor;
• potato broth. Boil several peeled vegetables, drink the resulting broth a glass a day. The finished product can be stored in the refrigerator for only one day;
• cabbage compress. Use cabbage leaf(Beat it a little first). Apply to the sore knee, wrap with gauze, keep the compress all night;
• eucalyptus oil. Apply a few drops of ether to your hand and slowly rub into the affected knee. The best option is to conduct several sessions therapeutic massage using essential oil;
• gelatin drink. Pour five grams of gelatin with a glass of water, leave overnight, and in the morning add 50 ml of liquid. Ready product drink in one gulp. You can eat jelly, but the effect from it is less than from taking pure

They occur not only in old age, but also at a young age. One of alarms is a crunch in the joints. If your knees crunch, what should you do in this case?

This condition does not cause any particular inconvenience at first, but it should not be ignored, since a crunching sound may indicate the onset of serious illnesses leading to disability. Crunching in the knees is often accompanied by swelling and pain.

To understand why your joints are cracking, you need to see a doctor. Doctors call following reasons this phenomenon:

• excessive stress on the knees, such as when playing certain sports or lifting heavy objects;
• low physical activity and sedentary work;
• constant wearing of high-heeled shoes;
• excess body weight;
• eating large quantity sweet, spicy, salty dishes;
• lack of vitamins;
• salt deposits;
• joint injury;
• the beginning of the development of arthrosis;
• congenital increased mobility.

You find that your knees are creaking. What to do first? First you need to change your lifestyle.

Review your diet - exclude sweet, spicy, salty foods. Eat more fruits, vegetables, foods rich in calcium, cook dishes with cartilage, drink non-carbonated mineral water, take vitamins.

Do not lift or carry heavy objects, avoid sports where you need to jump a lot - volleyball, basketball. Give your joints a rest after heavy exercise.

If your lifestyle is sedentary, and as a result your knees are cracking, what should you do? Sitting less in front of the TV screen and at the computer, sign up for a swimming pool or do daily hiking. Physical education with moderate load has a great effect on the condition of the joints. The exercises “scissors”, “bicycle”, and gymnastics in water are especially useful. Motor activity strengthens the leg muscles, improves blood circulation, elasticity and mobility of the knee joint.

At sedentary work try to get up and move more often, preferably walking to work. Wear comfortable shoes with heels no higher than 4 cm. And, of course, reduce weight, which is a destructive load on the knees.

Joints are afraid of the cold, so you need to keep them warm. When a crunch appears in the knee, you need to make compresses from vegetable oil and orange juice before bed, and wrap up well at night sore spot. The sauna will help relieve fatigue and tension in the joints. After prolonged stress on the legs, it is good to take warm bath and rub your knees with cream or ointment with bee venom.

The sooner you start taking measures when a crunch occurs in the knee, the longer it will take for arthrosis to develop. This disease often has a hereditary predisposition rather than healthy image life, hypothermia, poor nutrition, excessive loads, injuries and others unfavorable factors only accelerate its onset. If it is arthrosis that causes your knees to crack. What to do then? Arthrosis is an incurable disease, but initial stages it can be paused.

In this case, you need to start treatment for crunching in the joints from a rheumatologist. The doctor will conduct an examination using x-rays or tomography and determine the severity of the disease. Arthrosis requires integrated approach. Usually they prescribe medications that relieve pain and inflammation, prescribe electrophoresis, recommend eating right, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, avoiding calcium deficiency, maintaining normal weight. Used for the treatment of arthrosis modern drugs, restoring cartilage and restoring elasticity to joints.

In advanced stages of the disease, it is often impossible to do without surgical intervention. The operation consists of replacing damaged joint to artificial.

Crunching in the joints does not always mean that some terrible destructive processes are occurring in them, but it is a sure sign of some joint (structural and functional) disorders. Knees especially often crack, since the knee is the most active participant in any motor process and main victim large static loads. The only thing that can compete with it is the ankle, because the entire weight of our body presses on our feet. Various joint noises, crunching or crackling sounds, sometimes accompany flexion/extension movements of the knee. Often when squatting, twisting the shin, even when simply walking, a crunching sound is heard in the knees. Any noise in a joint is called crepitus. What could be the reasons for this phenomenon?

We are accustomed to treating crunch as one of external symptoms degenerative-inflammatory process - osteoarthritis, or we consider it a sign of the development of deforming arthrosis. But why do very young people’s knees creak? And this is a very annoying phenomenon for them: who wants to look like an old man or an old woman in their youth.

So, why do young people's knees click?

Crunching in the knees when bending or walking in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood can be explained by the following factors:

1. A slight crunch in the knees can occur with sudden movement in a completely healthy person. young man. This sound may be similar in nature to the muffled pop of a balloon bursting. The reasons for this are in the characteristic structure of the synovial capsule of the joint and the fluid in it: when moving, the articular membrane is stretched, gas bubbles form in the synovium, and when they rupture, strange sounds are heard.
2. Immaturity of the musculoskeletal system of children and adolescents: growth occurs so rapidly that the process of ossification lags behind cartilage formation. Teenage bone is always softer than adult bone, and joints are more mobile due to weakness of muscles and ligaments. This leads to the fact that articular surfaces go beyond the limitations and contact each other. Someone is probably familiar with a situation from childhood when an irresistible desire arises to click their knees or fingers. This frightening habit for mothers is based on a reflexive desire to return the joint to a comfortable position. Such a return is usually accompanied by a distinct ringing click.
3. Congenital joint hypermobility caused by connective tissue dysplasia. It's rare systemic disease, which is impossible not to notice. In addition to rotating the joint in ways that are impossible for healthy person angles, a row is observed additional signs: deformation chest; damage to cardiac and respiratory activity, pathology of blood vessels and organs, etc. In each case, its own manifestations are possible, to a greater or lesser extent. Don't confuse this dangerous disease with acquired hypermobility and flexibility training.

This painful flexibility...

If your knees have been cracking all your life when squatting, it is quite possible that the flexibility of the joints caused by genetic disorders collagen synthesis. The ligaments become superelastic and stretch more. This weakens the joint itself and can subsequently provoke the development of arthrosis.

Flexible joints are more common in women. This disease cannot be cured, since its causes are hereditary. It is only possible to maintain the ligaments with the help of strengthening exercises, while the currently popular hyperextension exercises should be performed with caution in case of pathological flexibility.

Crunching in the knee joint for the above reasons may not be accompanied by other serious symptoms when mild degree pathological disorders or genetic mutations.

Joint hypermobility in adolescents is often combined with nagging pain in the knees, since due to the growth of bones their deformation inevitably begins to develop, the alignment of the femur and tibia. The pathology also affects the spine, leading to scoliosis.

Real causes of crunching knees

Crunching in the knees is a common sound background for the following diseases (let's call real ones, not all kinds):

• arthrosis;
• calcific tendinitis;
• rheumatoid arthritis;
• gout;
• consequences of injury;
• chondromatosis;
• Koenig's disease.

It hurts, crunches and creaks with arthrosis

Osteoarthritis of the knee very often manifests itself with symptoms of crepitus, but the nature of the crunch, sensations and other signs vary depending on the stage:

• In the first stages, when the cartilage is still preserved, the sound in the joint is clearer and more superficial, and pain in the knee is not felt.

If the knee crunches but does not hurt, this is a sign in favor of early arthrosis.

• In more late stage the sounds become muffled and deeper: this indicates that the degenerative-dystrophic process has reached the subchondral bone, the tissues of which are penetrated by nerve endings.

A dull crunching sound in the knee during flexion and extension, along with the onset of pain, indicates more mature arthrosis.

• On late stages arthrosis, crunching in the knee when walking and pain can almost disappear, creating a deceptive illusion of recovery. But the knee loses freedom of movement, the leg does not straighten or bend fully, and this situation already gives rise to pain in overcoming deep flexion movements, associated with contractures that have arisen in the muscles and ligaments.
• By that time, instead of cartilage, the joint has hard calcium deposits on its surface (osteophytes), which leads to changes in the sound background: with advanced arthrosis, the knees crunch when squatting in a peculiar way - this sound is similar to creaking.

Osteoarthritis is considered an age-related disease, beginning somewhere after 40.

Calcific tendinitis

Cracking not only directly in the knee itself, but also in the areas near it, speaks of calcific tendonitis, that is, that calcium deposits are already occurring in the tendon tissues.

This phenomenon is accompanied at first by moderate pain, but with the destruction of calcifications in the ligaments painful symptoms They just become painful.

Tendinitis has many causes:

• it may accompany osteoarthritis;
• develop simultaneously with arthrosis as tendinosis;
• occur as a consequence of injury.

Crunching and pain in the knee due to arthritis

One of the hardest chronic forms arthritis is rheumatoid arthritis. He is the sword of Damocles of all health, not just joints. The reasons for this are frequent exacerbations, chronic inflammation, destructive effect on many organs and tissues.

All the membranes of the joints become inflamed, which leads to their swelling.

Synovitis is a common occurrence in rheumatoid arthritis. The constant overproduction of synovial fluid soon depletes the membrane itself and reduces the quality of the synovium contained in it, in which there is less hyaluronic acid- important natural lubrication of joints.

Rheumatoid joints always click, especially in the later stages, precisely because of lack of lubrication, but these sounds may be muffled due to the presence of fluid in the joint.

Crunching and pain in the knee with rheumatoid arthritis usually occurs when you start walking, but as the joint warms up with movement, these symptoms subside.

If the pain and crunching do not go away with the onset of movement, and the joint is thickened and has severe deformities, these signs indicate a late stage of the disease.

Unfortunately, rheumatoid arthritis also affects very young people.

Pain and crunching in the knee with gout

Gout can hardly be attributed to hidden reasons crunching in the knees. This disease has an acute onset:

• the knee swells greatly and becomes purple;
• the temperature jumps to 39˚;
• ugly formations appear on the surface, from which salt pours out;
• biological analysis shows an excess uric acid in the blood;
• When you move the joint, you hear creaking and grinding sounds (urate salts are to blame for this).

This kind of trouble rarely starts in the knees; usually the feet and hands are affected.

Knees crunch and hurt after injury

If before the injury you did not have any sounds in your joints when moving, but after the injury your knees crack, what should you do in this case?

Even if there is no pain, the appearance of a crunch in the knees after a fall is a signal for an immediate examination. You need to contact a competent orthopedic doctor so that he can carry out functional diagnostics. Often crepitus in the knee occurs due to a torn meniscus, but the knee ligaments stabilize it and the injury can be hidden or manifest itself during descent or ascent, or rotational rotations of the shin. By performing knee flexion/extension and rotation tests, your doctor may diagnose or suspect an injury and refer you for further testing.

Causes of knee crunch in osteochondropathy

The sources of crunching can be chondromatosis of the joints and Koenig's disease.

Chondromatosis occurs due to deforming arthrosis. The essence of this pathology is the formation of cartilaginous bodies inside the synovial membrane of the joint, which are initially attached to it on legs, like polyps, but then, as they grow, they can come off and form a free body, that is, an articular mouse.

• crepitation (crunching);
• joint swelling;
• periodic joint blocking,
• muscle atrophy.

Rice. 1 Chondromatosis

Koenig's disease (osteochondrosis dissecans) is associated with aseptic necrosis a separate limited area of ​​the joint, which is cut off over time. The gap that appears on the surface of the cartilage is filled with bone.

Clinical symptoms are the same as for chondromatosis, but x-rays show the presence of a lesion on the bone in early stage, and at a later stage - a site of bone regeneration.

Rice. 2 Koenig's disease

How to treat crunchy knees

In case of post-traumatic crunch, you can directly contact an orthopedic traumatologist, who is obliged to take an anamnesis and perform an examination using standard tests.

The doctor supplements the diagnosis with the necessary hardware methods:

• functional radiography;
• CT/MRI (if necessary);
• arthroscopy;
• examination of synovial fluid.

If the causes of crepitus in the knee are unknown, contact your family physician. Next, he selectively refers the patient to a traumatologist or rheumatologist.

What family doctor will write out a referral to a rheumatologist, should not be scary, since this specialist deals with all unexplained problems in the joints at the first stage.