People usually hear a sudden cracking sound from their bones when they sit, stand or walk, but experts answer why this is a cause for concern.
Daniel Wiznia, an orthopedic surgeon at Yale School of Medicine, told HuffPost on Monday, “Cavitation creates a vacuum in your face. Sound is produced when two joint surfaces separate and the joint fluid forms as a gas.”
The expert further explained, “The knee, like this … sometimes you can find a little bit of a groove or jump in the cartilage inside the song. It causes a little cramp and it’s normal,” said Wiznia.
According to the New York Post, this can be a problem if the fracture is accompanied by pain, swelling, joint instability, or movement in or around the knee.
Anyone experiencing this condition should consult a doctor.
Rarely, compression indicates vascular necrosis, cutoff of blood supply to the bone, causing knee pain and compression.
Cartilage can also wear away, causing a crepitus when two bone surfaces touch each other.
“It can be very loud, sometimes you can feel it when you put your hand on the knee. That means the patient has arthritis,” Wiznia told HuffPost.
Not all arthritis is painful or requires surgery to treat, Wiznia said, and interventions include steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy and injection therapy.
