Home remedies for cracking sound in knees

Q: Why do my knees crack when I do squats? And is it bad?
—Will P., Chicago, IL

A: Joints and soft-tissues can make all kinds of noises, from loud popping noises to grating sounds to quiet rubbing sensations.

Knee popping when squatting with pain

Most of these sounds are categorized by the term crepitus, which essentially means “joint noise.”

Much like when crack your knuckles, loud popping noises from your knees are most likely caused by what is called cavitation. Cavitation results from a change in joint pressure that allows carbon dioxide, which is normally dissolved in your joint fluid—a.k.a.

synovial fluid—to come out of the solution and form gas bubbles in the joint. This createa a small cavity in the joint, and when the cavity closes quickly, the bubble essentially “pops” and makes the familiar cracking noise.

In most cases, this is nothing to be concerned about.

In fact, the theory that popping your joints will lead to arthritis has absolutely no support in the research literature.

Now some folks will notice a grinding noise in the knee joint when they s

crackling sound while bending knee

popping sound in knee when squatting