“My knee sounds like snap, crackle and pop!” – patient at Instant Physio 2019
In the treatment room, this question comes up a lot…
“Why does my knee click?”
Knee clicking causes worry and fear in people and can lead to avoiding activity.
This is often because people are given the wrong information about what knee clicking means.
People go into a downward spiral and it can completely change their confidence and movement patterns.
This article is designed to put an end to this and explain whats going on…
In actual fact, knee clicking is very common and is perfectly normal.
There have been no scientific studies that have found any link between clicking knees and arthritis or any other disease.
A recent study that interviewed people with knee click found that 99% of them did not experience knee pain.
If you have knee clicking WITH pain this is a different story and you should see a medical professional to get this checked out.
More commonly, the pain free kind of clicking comes from two joint surfaces moving away from each creating a vacuum causing a release of gas into the joint leading to an audible click or pop.
Interestingly, in multiple long term studies habitual knuckle cracking showed no effect on rates of arthritis.
In fact, people with advanced osteoarthritis showed less clicking due to less movement and reduced lubrication.
Fun fact:
The Eland (a type of Antelope) uses knee cracking to display dominance.
So maybe we should be celebrating our knees clicking because it displays good movement and lubrication in the knee!
Seasons greetings!
For more information on knee pain call 020 3488 2698 or to sign up for a free intro session head over to: