What causes Clicking or Popping in Throat when Swallowing?

I've been feeling cartilage in my throat clicking for 8 months.
I'm living in China, and 8 months I just had a baby. I stayed at the hospital, didnt take any medication, so was in so much pain I couldn't move. Well one day I wanted to get something I couldn't reach. So I stretched my arm and neck and I might've done that a little to hard, and then I heard a click in my throat. I thought I broke something in my throat I start touching it and it didnt hurt. Then I started swallowing and the clicking started. I told my husband what happened and he told a nurse. The nurse told me that it's nothing and it's normal to hear a little clicking in the throat sometimes. She said to not think about it. I'm a person with anxiety, of course I was going to think about it. The clicking didnt stop, I felt it everyday all the time, the only times it doesnt click is when I eat.
But 2 months after that nothing changed, my husband took me to see a doctor. The doctor told me to see an ENT. They did an endoscopy, put a small camera to check my throat. And found nothing. They just told me my throat looked a little swollen. So I went home, feeling alone like nobody would understand. I explained everything to my husband and he understood me, but all he can do is take me to see a doctor , and they cant find anything. So, 3month after that I felt the cartilage in my throat more uncomfortable, this time I felt like something was stuck, there was still clicking but I felt like maybe a cartilage is out of place because I felt something stuck. I went again to get a x-ray done, and they found nothing. The doctor actually told me that I have a perfect throat and everything is in place. He told me that I have acid reflux. Then he asks if I feel any burning sensation in my throat , I tell him that I dont feel anything like that. I feel like a cartilage is not right, the throat clicks when I swallow and then it feel like something is getting stuck. He told me not to worry that its acid reflux and gave me medicine to take for a week. After I finished the medicine nothing changed. One month ago I went to go see a different doctor, this time I knew I was wasting my time after he put a little mirror on the back of my throat and said that there is nothing there and that it's acid reflux from eating too much spicy food 😑😔 I just went home and gave up.
I felt like I just have to deal with this for the rest of my life.
But I started searching on the internet and found this thread and I am starting to feel hopeful.
I want to share my story to let other people that are experiencing the same thing and let know that they're not alone and I hope one day we all find the solution soon.

Hi All, I'm somewhat relieved to find this active thread as I've been exhausted in my search for answers as to why I am experiencing swallowing issues. In short, a few months ago, I noticed a pop/click/crunch (it varies) when swallowing. It can be heard and felt (by myself internally and externally through the skin), occurring in the area of my hyoid/thyrohyoid membrane/thyroid cartilage. It isn't painful, but it's jarring and alarming. I need to constantly reposition my neck to relieve it. This symptom came on rather suddenly, but I can't point to a specific action or event that directly caused it. It has increased in frequency and occurs on and off throughout the day. I'd say that literally half of my swallowing triggers this symptom in a given day.

I first saw an ENT who told me that it was probably just some ossification due to aging (I'm a 41 year old man, non smoker). He ordered an ultrasound and nothing was discovered. I tried to ignore it but couldn't, so more recently, I saw another ENT. He originally thought it could be my Hyoid hitting my cervical vertebrae. However, after ordering a CT scan, it was clear that wasn't the case. What was discovered were two things: I have early ossification of my thyrohyoid membrane and my thyroid cartilage area is out of alignment, curving to the right by a few millimeters. The ENT was perplexed and wondered if the misalignment was the cause of my positioning during the CT scan. However, both my mandible and spine seem to be centered. He thinks my symptoms may be caused by the ossification and/or the misalignment. He was also perplexed because he only sees something like this in patients who have suffered trauma to the neck. I have not had that, maybe except sleeping in a horrible position from time to time. He also though it may be from an older injury I could have suffered, even as a child. But, it's unclear to me why this symptom would now appear. The ENT told me to take an anti-inflammatory for a month and to give him a call to reassess. He also said he may eventually send me to see another specialist or therapist specializing in swallowing. I feel a bit hopeless at this point as I've seen two ENTs and had a CT Scan, ultrasound and I've been scoped in the office. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm also attaching the CT scan, which shows the misalignment.

Hi everyone! I had Clicking Larynx Syndrome just like you all. It first happened only for 3 swallows and went away. It came back full time a month later. I saw an ENT and was immediately pushed out of the door. He didn’t even feel the clicking with his hands. I knew this was more serious (seriously annoying) and I continued to search for an ENT that specializes in head and neck surgery. I think that is the key here. You need to find someone who has done surgeries and actually understands what is happening. The ENT I found who also worked in the cancer center and focused on surgeries relating to cancer worked with me for 5 months with physical therapy, swallow tests and steroids. No results. I threw in the towel and got a CT scan done. My thyroid cartilage was a little enlarged on one side but nothing alarming. I also had a shorter distance between my greater horn of my hyoid and superior Cornu on one side. After discussing, I opted for surgery. My ENT performed a fairly common procedure called a thyroglossal duct excision where he removed the center portion of my hyoid and then he stitched up my remaining hyoid bones to the underside of my tongue. He made sure to remove enough that when he was in surgery he could see no more apparent contact between the thyroid cartilage and hyoid. I had immediate relief directly out of surgery. I did however notice some clicking when I turn my head and what seems to be clicking in the back of my throat after some swelling went down. I spoke with my ENT and he said this may all subside since I am still healing. If not, I go back in a couple months for another CT scan.
Also, on the day of my surgery he told me another girl saw him with the same problem.
Hang in there everyone. As isolating as it feels, you aren’t alone. I’ve been silently following this thread for months while I suffered. I know how horrible this is and frustrating but there are answers and you will be better one day. My advice is to not give up on searching for someone to take you seriously. Find an ENT at an actual hospital that is a surgeon. Not a specialist at a clinic. Also, I have horrible OCD and anxiety/depression and I know that the mental component can really amplify it. IF AN ENT TELLS YOU THIS IS FROM ANXIETY OR STRESS MOVE ON. This is very real and you need someone to take you seriously. I’m hoping all of my problems dissipate but I can gladly say that horrible thud is GONE. Also, there are great articles online about surgical procedures to take care of this issue. Print those out and bring them to your ENT. I did. Have hope and don’t give up.

I've been experiencing the same problem for over a year and a half, and haven't been able to find out what's wrong. If I lie face down and turn my head, or sometimes just swallowing while at an angle that's not exactly vertical I get that popping feeling, and what I haven't heard from anyone say that happens to me is that the displacement of whatever is moving sometimes doesn't get rectified until I twist my head in 17 different directions or punch my throat, and the effects of the pop can sometimes be felt over hours. Once it took a day. @mushroom Did you ever find out what the problem was from the ENT?

I have this too and it’s quite annoying! It seems to be on my left side and if I hold my head up and to the right it will not click- I’m really hoping this goes away on its own 🙁

Did you find any solution?

Mine happened over 3 months ago when I was eating fast and I tried swallowing a large portion of food and when I swallowed it didn’t all do down in one swallow I had to double swallow but could still feel the food hanging in my throat (during the double swallow) and I was able to still breath during this. Right after that I felt like something was still in my throat so I tried to gargle and cough and I even tried to force myself to throw up a little but then I didn’t want to make things worse. So I saw an ent the next day they did a scope said it was fine. Then two days after I had thick phlegm develop in my throat causing my to throat clear constantly and swallow. The next day was when the clicking started. It was more of a double click in my throat like two cartilages rubbing everytime I throat clear and swallow saliva . (Now it’s mostly one click) It doesn’t click when I drink fluids or eat food. I’ve seen 2 ents one said it was silent reflux and was put on omeprazole for almost a month. That didn’t help. So I stopped the meds and the gastro said to do endoscopy. That was normal. Pulmonologist said my lungs sound fine because I was so scared everytime I ate or drink it goes down wrong. It’s affected my eating the first month. I lost weight. Sometimes I noticed I can get away from the clicking if I turn my head a certain way up and to the right. But sometimes it got so bad that the clicking happens no matter how I position my head. I can’t get away from it. Very frustrating. I also feel tightness around my throat. To where it’s sensitive if I wear a shirt too high and it touches my neck it bothers me and makes the tightness sensation worse. or a necklace turns on my next I feel the tightness more. Same for if a doctor touches it I feel the tightness worse. But one ent said I didn’t have to worry about my throat closing on me. Even though my anxiety told me otherwise. Stress makes it worse. I stopped going to doctors because some just say it’s a weird thing that happened and just give it time to go away. But how much longer will it take to go away on its own? Sometimes I feel like maybe it’s something so simple as getting a chiropractic adjustment of my neck to make it go back in place. But then the other part of me says not to because if I can’t have anything touch my throat without tension I don’t want to chance twisting my neck and possible making things worse. Maybe I should try physical therapy to strengthen my neck and something will gently go back into place again. But overall the feeling is that something is “ dislocated” in my throat. It’s also affected my breathing feels like my throat is smaller and also the constant throat clearing everytime I inhale doesn’t heal the throat any quicker either. Can you imagine all this that I am going through was from eating too big of portion too fast. I wasn’t even chocking ( thank God) I feel so embarrassed and so stupid and that all of this could have been avoided. because I caused all of this. I feel if I just took my time and had a second to eat normally ( I have 3 very young kids so i was trying to feed everyone while I was trying to eat myself). I feel like this is so unnecessary and should have never happened in the first place. I am patiently waiting for this to go away on its own. I have a physical next week. Hopping he can guide me in another direction as to what it is and what I should do next. Sorry for the long rant. But nobody believes me and thinks it’s anxiety. But it specifically happened right during when I was eating. So I know something happened but it’s not being picked up on testing. Very frustrating. Thanks for listening. Praying for hope. and for everyone who has similar situation I am praying for us to find a solution or for it to just need some time to get back to normal.