What’s All That “Cracking” About?

Has this ever happened to you? Your knees are bent and as you begin to straighten your legs you hear a clicking or cracking sound in your joints. Is it age? Is there something wrong with me? Before you start jumping to conclusions, don't panic! We're here to uncover the mystery behind all that crackin'.  According to Mike Demora, a Board Certified Exercise Therapist, "you may be experiencing clicking due to crepitus, the releasing of gas at a joint that occurs occasionally with no pain involved." It happens quite often at the knee when the patella rubs against the femoral condyles. It also happens often at the shoulder. The bottom line is crepitus is fairly natural and if there is no pain involved, there is no reason for concern. The distinction between crepitus and other issues is that crepitus will only happen once in awhile and should not continue for each rep of each set during weight bearing exercise. If this noise continues,  you may need to address a muscular imbalance. What does this mean? Without getting too technical, here is a brief overview. Each of your joints is surrounded in muscle tissue. There are muscles that create movement in each direction and muscles that allow each movement to occur. For example, when the biceps is contracted, or in a curled position, the triceps is allowing the movement to happen. In some cases, the length/tension relationship between two muscles, such as the biceps and triceps, is dysfunctional. This can cause unnecessary stress on the joint capsule and cause the bone to rub against either another bone or irregular cartilage surfaces. This rubbing can cause a cracking or popping sound. If this situation is not remedied, inflammation can result, which can in turn lead to more popping and the cycle will continue. To correct this problem, a well qualified personal trainer will be able to recognize these imbalances and can develop a customized workout program for you focusing on corrective exercises that will regain efficient length/tension relationships at each joint. So the next time you start crackin', listen to your body! You may need to start revamping your workout.

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