What Causes Cracking Joints? How to Prevent Them

During daily activities and movements, we sometimes hear bones and joints creak for a short time and then quickly disappear. Usually, this is not a serious problem, but if this condition persists for a long time, especially in the elderly, it can signal dry joints due to aging. Let's find out more about what causes bones and joints to creak and some ways to prevent them with Dulyn Sure!

What Causes Cracking Joints?

A joint is the connection between two bones, serving the needs of daily activities, creating flexible muscle movements and flexing and stretching of limbs. 

The knee joint plays an important role in daily life

Joints are made up of ligaments, muscles, tendons, articular cartilage, and the synovial membrane. The synovial membrane secretes fluid to reduce friction and lubricate the joints for flexible movement. However, if the components in the joint are abnormal, the amount of fluid secreted will be reduced, leading to dry joints and causing the bones and joints to creak when moving.

Some causes and factors that can cause bones and joints to creak:

What causes joints to creak? 

- Osteoarthritis: The cause is due to the body going through the natural aging process, often occurring after the age of 30 and causing many injuries to the joints, especially the cervical spine, lumbar spine, knees, etc. Osteoarthritis damages the articular cartilage, the cartilage layers are worn away, creating bone spurs leading to friction of the spurs when moving, causing creaking sounds. In addition, osteoarthritis can cause symptoms such as pain, swelling, difficulty in movement, etc.

- Lack of Joint Fluid: The amount of joint fluid secreted is not enough, hindering the normal activities of the joint, making the joint not work smoothly, the cartilage ends rub against each other, causing bones and joints to creak. Causes that can lead to dry joints include malnutrition, overweight, old age, etc.

- Injury: Some injuries during sports activities, exercise, or accidents also cause bones and joints to creak.

- Rheumatoid Arthritis: Being an autoimmune disease, the disease affects one or more joints. Bones and joints creaking can also be seen in rheumatoid arthritis. The disease can cause swelling and pain in small joints. If not treated promptly and properly, the disease will progress rapidly and cause serious limitations in daily activities.

- Tendonitis: If a tendon is damaged for some reason, it can rub against the bone and make a clicking sound when moving.

- Calcification of the Joint Socket: When too much calcium is deposited in the subchondral bone and cartilage tissue, it usually occurs in the knee joint. Symptoms include damage to the cartilage ends, causing a clicking sound.

How to Accurately Diagnose the Condition of Creaking Joints

With the condition of bones and joints creaking When moving accompanied by pain, people with signs of the disease should not self-treat at home because it can make the condition more serious. Instead, if this symptom appears, you should see a doctor and perform tests to find the cause and have timely treatment.

Methods to help you determine the cause of bones and joints creaking include:

Effective and safe knee treatment support measures 

- X-ray: To determine the condition of reduced bone density (bone loss), loss of articular cartilage, and the formation of bone spurs.

- MRI Scan: When the doctor suspects pain due to soft tissue problems such as ligaments, synovial sacs, etc.

- CT Scan: To determine the exact location and damaged organs.

- Blood Test: For cases showing signs of rheumatoid arthritis, infection, gout, etc., or joint fluid test if the patient is at risk of gout, closed fracture, etc.

- Chiropractic Treatment: Specialists will use their hands to examine and may advise on X-ray or MRI to make a final conclusion about the severity of the disease.

How to Prevent Cracking Joints

Cracking joints not only affect mobility but also the psychology of the patient, causing worry and loss of focus at work. Therefore, some ways to prevent bones and joints creaking include:

- Supplementing Essential Nutrients: Such as Calcium, Vitamins, and Collagen to reduce the risk of dry joints.

- Exercising Regularly: Regular exercise for 15-30 minutes a day will help strengthen bones. Note, you should choose exercises suitable for your age and avoid exercises that are too heavy.

- For Office Workers: Due to the nature of the job, sitting for a long time, you should try to stand up and move every 1-2 hours to prevent joints from maintaining a state for too long, helping them relax.

- Avoid Strenuous Exercise: Avoid overly strenuous exercise for a long time, only do work that is suitable for your age.

Summary

In the above article, Dulyn Sure has helped summarize some information about what is the disease of bone and joint creaking, and how to diagnose and prevent this condition. Each cause will have different treatments, but taking preventive measures early on will help reduce the risk of bones and joints creaking becoming serious.