What to do if your child has cracking joints

There will be friction between our joints when we exercise, and there will be a slight noise, but the sound is generally not very loud. Some children will have symptoms of joint crackling. Children are in the stage of growth and development, so if the joints are abnormal, it may affect the normal development of children. So, what should we do if children’s joints crack? Let us take a brief look at it through the following content!

You can often hear people making a "cracking" sound when exercising, such as a sound in the knee joints when squatting, a slight "cracking" sound in the hip joints when walking, a sound in the cervical spine when turning the neck, and a sound in the fingers when clenching the fingers... These sounds are usually called "snapping".

Generally speaking, if there is only a clicking sound without any redness or swelling on the surface, or pain, and no movement disorder, it is physiological clicking and does not require special treatment, nor is there any need to be overly anxious about it. When the joints move, friction and sound will always occur between the articular surfaces, between the cartilage pads and the articular surfaces, between the tendons and the joint capsules, etc. In most people, this sound is not obvious, but in some people it is clearer. Especially for those who sit for a long time, less lubricating fluid is produced between the joints, which increases the friction loss of the joints and makes it more likely to hear the popping sound. When accompanied by pain or limited joint movement, you need to go to the hospital to determine whether the joint is dislocated or damaged.

People who work at a desk all year round, such as teachers, editors, secretaries, and computer data entry operators, often complain about "pops" in the cervical spine. The popping sound is precisely a reminder for people not to maintain the same posture for too long, but to exercise more. It is best to get up and move around for 15 to 30 minutes.

Many people have had this experience: when they make a fist, their knuckles suddenly make a "clicking" sound. Some people even enjoy it and when they are bored or nervous, they take turns making their knuckles make a "click, click" sound.

Some people's knee joints make rhythmic "clicking" sounds whenever they go up or down stairs; some people's heels make loud "pop" sounds when they straighten their heels; some people's necks or teeth (temporomandibular joints) make sounds even when they stretch or yawn! What is going on?

The joints can make sounds, which may seem strange at first. However, from a physics point of view, the movements of the joints are nothing more than sliding (such as the initial bending of the knee), rolling, grinding (rotation), etc. These are all based on mechanical principles and will naturally produce sounds due to friction and vibration. It is only because the joint cavity is perfectly closed and the synovial fluid effectively lubricates the joints that the sound is so small that it cannot be heard.

In fact, the sound produced by the joints can be amplified and recorded by a microphone. Many years ago, domestic doctors developed a joint sound wave recorder that can be used clinically to "listen" to knee joint lesions. The sound of the joints is so loud that it can sometimes scare people.

Some recent studies have provided the answer. It turns out that when the joint first moves, the force of the tendon (such as tension, etc.) will instantly cause the joint to deform, which can increase by up to 7%. The deformation creates negative pressure in the joint cavity. Although this negative pressure is small, it is enough to cause the joint capsule to collapse (be sucked in), and to partially vaporize the nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases dissolved in the synovial fluid into bubbles.

The above article introduces in detail what to do if children’s joints make noises. I hope parents can pay attention to this and seek timely treatment if they find abnormal noises in their children’s joints to avoid affecting their normal development. Children are in the developmental stage, so they need a lot of nutrition, especially calcium. Therefore, parents must supplement their children with enough calcium to ensure their normal development.