When joints create a grinding or popping sound or sensation, this is known as crepitus. Occasional joint crepitus is considered normal and is no cause for alarm. However, a large new study suggests that frequent knee crepitus may be an early warning sign of knee osteoarthritis.
The study included nearly 3,500 middle-age individuals with no initial symptoms of knee osteoarthritis and tracked them for 2 years. Researchers found that participants who reported having no knee pain, but frequent or constant knee crepitus, were at higher risk for having symptoms of osteoarthritis within a year.
This was especially true for those with physical signs of knee degeneration (via X-ray results) at the beginning of the study—despite making up only 26% of the total study group, 75% of them went on to develop symptoms of osteoarthritis.
More research is needed to establish what the connection is between frequent crepitus and osteoarthritis. But crepitus’s possible role as a warning sign of osteoarthritis means that people who experience frequent crepitus can take measures to protect their joints.
Osteoarthritis can’t be cured or prevented, but the sooner treatment and exercise starts, the easier it is to manage symptoms and slow degeneration.
Bone spurs are sometimes called by their medical names, osteophytes and enthesophytes. Experts suggest both types of bone spurs are a reaction to skeletal stress.
1) Osteophytes are typically found at the edge of a bone at a joint. They are considered to be the result of friction and stress on the bone, and are often associated with osteoarthritis.
2) Enthesophytes are bone spurs that develop where ligament or tendon insert into a bone. (The site of attachment of soft tissue into bone is called an enthesis.) Enthesophytes may develop because of tight ligaments and tendons rubbing against bone, a soft tissue injury, or an inflammatory disease.
People do not always make the distinction between osteophytes and enthesophytes; Enthesophytes may sometimes be called osteophytes.
Electrotherapy uses electrical signals to interfere with the transmission of neural pain signals into the brain. It effectively slows down or distracts the message from the nerve to the brain.
From a physiotherapy point of view, affecting one’s ‘Pain Gate’, whether in an acute or chronic pain episode, is a crucial area of treatment and electrotherapy is a very useful resource where conventional medicines are not as affective.
Electrotherapy can also involve the use of this electric current to speed tissue healing where tissue damage has also occurred. It can also increase sensations and muscle strength.
Electrotherapy typically involves the use of a battery-powered device that supplies a current to small electrodes (which attach to your area of pain). This in turn sends electrical pulses to the area where experiencing symptoms. There are numerous kinds of electrotherapy devices available, but the most popular ones are transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) units.
