Crepitus - Wikipedia

Grating sound or feeling due to friction between bones or joints This article is about the medical term. For the Roman god, see Crepitus (mythology).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Crepitus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Crepitus (/ˈkrɛpɪtəs/) or crepitation is "a grating sound or sensation produced by friction between bone and cartilage or the fractured parts of a bone".

Various types of crepitus that can be heard in joint pathologies are:

• Bone crepitus: This can be heard when two fragments of a fracture are moved against each other.
• Joint crepitus: This can be obtained when the affected joint is passively moved with one hand, while the other hand is placed on the joint to feel the crepitus.
• Crepitus of bursitis: This is heard when the fluid in the bursa contains small, loose fibrinous particles.
• Crepitus of tenosynovitis: From inflammation of the fluid-filled sheath (synovium) that surrounds a tendon.

Causes

[edit]

The sound can be created when two rough surfaces in an organism's body come into contact—for example, in osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis when the cartilage around joints erodes and the surfaces in the joint grind against one another, or when the two fractured surfaces of the broken bones rub together. Crepitus is a common sign of bone fracture.

Crepitus can easily be created and observed by exerting a small amount of force on a joint, thus 'cracking it'. This may be caused by bubbles of nitrogen forming in the synovial fluid bursting. Almost every joint in the body can be 'cracked' in this way, but the joints which require the least amount of force to produce this effect include the hallux (big toes), the knuckles and the neck joints. This phenomenon is caused when the movement of the joint lowers the pressure of its synovial fluid, causing the bubbles to form and burst. A refractory period of about 20 minutes exists where the joint cannot be stimulated to produce crepitus after being cracked until the nitrogen gas dissolves back into the synovial fluid.[1]

In soft tissues, crepitus can be produced when gas is introduced into an area where it is normally not present.

The term can also be used when describing the sounds produced by lung conditions such as interstitial lung disease; these are also referred to as "rales". Crepitus is often loud enough to be heard by the human ear, although a stethoscope may be needed to detect instances caused by respiratory diseases.

In times of poor surgical practice, post-surgical complications involved anaerobic infection by Clostridium perfringens strains, which can cause gas gangrene in tissues, also giving rise to crepitus.

Subcutaneous crepitus (or surgical emphysema) is a crackling sound resulting from subcutaneous emphysema, or air trapped in the subcutaneous tissues.

See also

[edit]

• Joint cracking

References

[edit]

1. ^ "Simulation May Finally Explain Why Knuckle Cracking Makes That Awful Sound". Gizmodo. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2023-10-30.

Further reading

[edit]

• Richards RR, McKee MD (October 1989). "Treatment of painful scapulothoracic crepitus by resection of the superomedial angle of the scapula. A report of three cases". Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (247): 111–6. doi:10.1097/00003086-198910000-00019. PMID 2791379.
• Jiang CC, Liu YJ, Yip KM, Wu E (1993). "Physiological patellofemoral crepitus in knee joint disorders". Bulletin. 53 (4): 22–6. PMID 8829591.
• Kuhn JE, Plancher KD, Hawkins RJ (1998). "Symptomatic scapulothoracic crepitus and bursitis". The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 6 (5): 267–73. doi:10.5435/00124635-199809000-00001. PMID 9753753. S2CID 24203563.
• Dennis DA, Kim RH, Johnson DR, Springer BD, Fehring TK, Sharma A (January 2011). "The John Insall Award: control-matched evaluation of painful patellar Crepitus after total knee arthroplasty". Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. 469 (1): 10–7. doi:10.1007/s11999-010-1485-3. PMC 3008897. PMID 20706813.
• O'Connor, Anahad (December 15, 2014). "Why Do My Knees Make Noise When I Squat?". Ask Well. The New York Times.

External links

[edit]

• The dictionary definition of crepitus at Wiktionary

Classification	D ICD-10: R29.898 ICD9 = 719.60, 756.0

v t e Diseases of joints
General	Arthritis Monoarthritis Oligoarthritis Polyarthritis
Symptoms	Joint pain Joint stiffness
Inflammatory	Infectious Septic arthritis Tuberculosis arthritis Crystal Chondrocalcinosis CPPD (Pseudogout) Gout Seronegative Reactive arthritis Psoriatic arthritis Ankylosing spondylitis Enteropathic arthropathy Connective tissue disorders SLE systemic sclerosis Sjögren's Other Juvenile idiopathic arthritis Systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis Felty's syndrome Palindromic rheumatism Adult-onset Still's disease
Noninflammatory	Hemarthrosis Osteoarthritis Heberden's node Bouchard's nodes Osteophyte

v t e Congenital malformations and deformations of musculoskeletal system / musculoskeletal abnormality
Appendicularlimb / dysmelia	Arms clavicle / shoulder Cleidocranial dysostosis Sprengel's deformity Wallis–Zieff–Goldblatt syndrome hand deformity Madelung's deformity Clinodactyly Oligodactyly Polydactyly Leg hip Hip dislocation / Hip dysplasia Upington disease Coxa valga Coxa vara knee Genu valgum Genu varum Genu recurvatum Discoid meniscus Congenital patellar dislocation Congenital knee dislocation foot deformity varus Club foot Pigeon toe valgus Flat feet Pes cavus Rocker bottom foot Hammer toe Either / both fingers and toes Polydactyly / Syndactyly Webbed toes Arachnodactyly Cenani–Lenz syndactylism Ectrodactyly Brachydactyly Stub thumb reduction deficits / limb Acheiropodia Ectromelia Phocomelia Amelia Hemimelia multiple joints Arthrogryposis Larsen syndrome RAPADILINO syndrome
Axial	Skull and face Craniosynostosis Scaphocephaly Oxycephaly Trigonocephaly Craniofacial dysostosis Crouzon syndrome Hypertelorism Hallermann–Streiff syndrome Oto-palato-digital syndrome Treacher Collins syndrome other Macrocephaly Platybasia Craniodiaphyseal dysplasia Dolichocephaly Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome Plagiocephaly Saddle nose Vertebral column Spinal curvature Scoliosis Klippel–Feil syndrome Spondylolisthesis Spina bifida occulta Sacralization Thoracic skeleton ribs: Cervical Bifid sternum: Pectus excavatum Pectus carinatum other: Poland syndrome