My knee is making a grinding noise, do I have arthritis??

Patients often ask why their knees are making creaky, crunching, grating or grinding sounds especially when performing repetitive knee bending and straightening eg. Squats, lunges or stairs.

Studies have found that sounds at the knee (also known as crepitus) are common among healthy knees and also arthritic knees. Therefore, noisy knees does not necessarily mean that you have arthritis.

This noise can be associated with a variety of reasons including friction between two surfaces, build-up or bursting of tiny bubbles in the fluid, snapping of ligaments or catching of tissues inside the knee.

If the noises have started after an injury/trauma, the knee is swollen, painful, affecting your activity, or you are concerned then we would recommend having a physiotherapy assessment. We can perform an assessment and provide you with a recommendation on why those knees are a bit creaky!

Written by Eliza (Physiotherapist)