Cracking Sound in Joints: Deficiency, Injury, or Harmless?

Key Takeaways:

• If your joints are making a cracking sound, it's usually harmless and caused by processes like gas bubbles forming within the joint. [6, 14]
• However, if you experience joint popping with pain, instability, or swelling, it could indicate an injury, which requires an appointment with a specialist. [7]
• Nutrient deficiencies (such as low vitamin D) are not commonly known to cause joint cracking, but they can contribute to joint issues that do increase the risk. [8]
• While supplements, physical therapy, stretching, and targeted exercise support general joint health, evidence for reducing joint popping specifically is lacking. [9]
  
• If you want to strengthen your joint function, certain supplements may help — read on to find out our recommendations.

Popping Joints: Sign Of A Vitamin Deficiency?

Joint health is something that most of us don’t think about. When we’re young, we take it for granted when everything works the way it’s supposed to. But as we age—and even for highly active people—joint stiffness, tightness, and immobility can begin to take its toll.

If you’re experiencing popping or cracking when you move certain joints, it may be something to keep an eye on. If there’s no pain or significant discomfort associated with it, it may not necessarily be an injury. However, it could be your body’s way of telling you it’s missing something it needs.

In this article, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about popping joints—why it happens, if they’re a sign of nutrient deficiencies, and how you can prevent it from happening.

Why Does a Cracking Sound in Joints Happen?

There’s no denying that popping or cracking joints aren’t the most pleasant feeling around. The symptoms of joint popping vary between people.

Whether it’s the popping, snapping, cracking, or clicking of a joint, the cause usually isn’t narrowed down to a single thing. Rather, it’s usually based on the frequency of occurrence.

Joint popping that happens once and is accompanied by pain, discomfort, or joint instability can be the result of injury to the joint itself. [10] It can occur due to [7, 11, 12, 13] :

• Ligament strain or tear
• Tendon strain or tear (tendon rupture)
• Bone fractures
• Joint dislocation

In these cases, a professional treatment may be needed to fix the issue.

Harmless Causes of Joint Cracking Sounds: Synovial Fluid Gas, Knee Joint, and More

Some other reasons why joints may pop or crack include:

• Escaping gas: Joints contain a lubricating fluid called synovial fluid that protects the bones from rubbing together. [14] When a joint pops or cracks, the joint capsule stretches and gas is formed, which creates the sound. That said, how exactly the joint cracking sound comes about is not fully understood yet. If you want to crack the joint again, you must wait (studies suggest about 20 minutes). [6, 15]
• Movement of joints, tendons, or ligaments: When a joint moves, the tendon’s position changes and can become displaced. This is usually the cause of the ‘snapping’ noise you sometimes hear. [10, 16] On top of that, ligaments can tighten when you move your joints and can result in a cracking noise; this is most common in the knees and ankles. [10]
• Muscle fascia separating: Some experts suggest that popping noises can result from muscle fascia "separating" temporarily from the skin during movement. This so-called separation is really the natural gliding of soft tissues, but research on its role in cracking joints is lacking. [3, 4, 5]
• Rough surfaces: Arthritic joints make sounds when their surfaces rub together due to loss of the smooth cartilage that protects them from grinding together. [17]

Repeated popping, intentional or not, can result from something harmless like knuckle cracking or snapping of a tendon over a protruding bony prominence, but it can also result from a more serious issue such as a torn meniscus or cartilage degeneration. [10, 17]

Related Post: Vitamins for Cracking Knees

Unless there’s swelling, redness, or warmth in the area where the popping is happening, it’s not usually a cause for major concern or an indication of arthritis. There may be temporary discomfort when the cracking happens, but it disappears soon afterward. [10, 18]

Vitamins and Joint Health

If you have a cracking sound in joints, deficiency is not always the cause. That said, there’s a fair bit of evidence linking a lack of essential vitamins to various joint problems, which can indirectly contribute to joint cracking. [8]

Most of us are aware of the role of calcium in maintaining strong and healthy bones and joints, and that calcium deficiency can lead to a number of issues — but what other nutrients do we need?

Key Nutrients for Joint Strength and Flexibility

If you’re looking for healthy joints regardless of age, you need to be pairing certain nutrients to maximize their effects. That is, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, and vitamin B12.

Of those, sufficient vitamin D intake is crucial for boosting calcium absorption. [20] Not only that, but taking enough vitamin D has been shown to help with reducing inflammation and joint discomfort. [8]

If you’re experiencing popping or bone cracking sound and joint pain, you should be looking towards a vitamin D deficiency. Studies show that low vitamin D levels can cause a skeletal mineralization defect. [1]

On top of that, vitamin C is also vital in supporting the production of collagen, a protein that forms the foundation of all connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, bones, tissues, cartilage). [2]

Lack of collagen interferes not only with skin health but also cartilage formation and can lead to joint tenderness and muscular weakness. The ‘cushion’ that sits between joints becomes worn down, which means bone ends meet and cause degeneration of the joint capsule. [19]

But then we also have things like glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, and other compounds that many people take for healthy joints and reducing inflammation.

Are Popping Joints a Sign Of a Nutrient Deficiency?

While popping joints are generally harmless and the result of gas release, nutrient deficiencies can contribute to more severe causes like cartilage degeneration and arthritis. [8]

Here’s a breakdown of the nutrients you may want to top up on if you’re dealing with popping joints:

3 Ways To Address Joint Popping

1. Stay Hydrated

It's easy to forget that something as simple as drinking water can do a lot for the body. Adequate hydration is needed to maintain proper blood volume, which in turn supports better blood circulation and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. [20]

When you give your body enough water, it can lubricate the joints and enhance mobility. But sufficient water also plays a role in the production of synovial fluid that lines the joint capsules. [21]

Without synovial fluid, bones can rub together and cause pain and discomfort, not to mention significant wear and tear. [22] Aim for 2-3L of water daily, increasing intake if you’re a caffeine drinker or are doing intense exercise.

2. Supplement To Support

Regardless of whether you’re experiencing joint popping or not, you’ll want to make sure your joints have everything they need to stay healthy.

Performance Lab® Flex was designed to optimize joints for flexibility, comfort, and long-range health. Flex is a complex of ultramodern joint nutrients curated and combined for active joint demands.