The cause of shooting joints can be trivial. The structure of the connections between the bones is just looser in some people. Then you don’t have to worry too much about it. However, when the joints “crackle” for a long time and are accompanied by pain, consultation with a specialist is required.
Are shooting joints serious? When the shooting joints start to hurt, and in the morning you feel “rusty” and you can’t leave the house without a proper start-up? It may be inflamed. Shooting joints can turn out to be a serious, tiring ailment that needs to be treated. Of course, the characteristic crack in the knee or hip may be related to just such a structure of the joints, most often already genetic, but in order to sleep peacefully, it is worth going to the doctor.
A snap in the knee
Patients most often complain of cracking in the knee, cracking in the hip and cracking in the shoulder blade. Inflammation in the joints requires consultation with rheumatologist. However, crackling in the knee joint should diagnose orthopaedist. The cause of pain in this place may be damage to the articular cartilage (microtrauma), improper positioning of the bones forming the joint, e.g. due to lopsided gait. Then the pain appears after a long walk, when climbing stairs, and even at night. There may then be a feeling of “locking” of the knee, i.e. resistance to straightening the joint. The reason for crackling may also be degenerative changes in the articular cartilage, which are referred to as chondromalacia or a defect in the articular cartilage. If the patient’s body is found to be deficient in certain nutrients such as: protein, calcium, B vitamins or omega-3 fatty acids, this may affect the inflammation that originated in the joints. It is worth recalling that the above-mentioned ingredients are the building blocks of cartilage and synovial fluid.
Cracks in the hip and shoulder blade
Cracks in the hip joint, so-called “skipping” is an extra-articular symptom, and the result is a conflict of soft tissues with protruding bone elements. Most often, skipping occurs on the lateral surface of the joint or in the inguinal region. This condition is quite common and is referred to as snapping hip syndrome (SHS). The cause of this condition may be related to past injuries or overloading of the joint.Rattles around the shoulder blade are colloquially referred to as the snapping blade syndrome. This happens as a result of disturbances in the biomechanics of the shoulder blade movement due to muscle overload or sports activities such as handball, volleyball or tennis.
Convalescence
Treating this ailment requires a lot of discipline from the patient. The sooner treatment is started, the more likely it is to avoid surgery. In most cases, conservative treatment is used, which consists in taking drugs, application rehabilitation, i.e. therapeutic improvement, physiotherapy. Post-treatment patients are usually satisfied with the results. Sometimes it is necessary to use orthopedic equipment in the form of stabilizers of the knee joint. When the degeneration is not too serious, the doctor may recommend wearing special insoles for shoes that allow proper walking and elbow crutches.