Crunchy knees!

mazdauk

Whenever I do squats or lunges my knees cruch like someone attacking bubble wrap. I also ge a click in my hip/spine when doing a left leg raise (lifted in front, knee bend).

Any ideas how I can stop these? Or am I just an old boiler who has to accept everything is a bit crumbly?

Losing weight has helped reduce (mostly) the pain I was getting in my knees, and my hips are also getting better (bad pregnancy led to pelvic/hip problems 13 years ago). But anyhting specific which can strengthen these areas would be much appreciated.

mazdauk

bump- anyone?

keepingm0tivated

You could try stretching.?

ndmckeown

Try doing lower impact strength exercises to build up the strength around the knees gradually. Also, a balance board like an indo board would help strengthen the little muscles around the knees and ankles.

The other thing that seems to help me with my crunchy knees is taking Glucosamine. It actually seems to help with the various aches and pains I get.

MandyPhoe

Hi Mazdauk,

I have the exact same problem. I am not sure if this will work for you but someone has advised me to take Glucosamine, Chondroitin+MSM supplements. They apparently help with joint health and ease the pain from osteo-arthritis. Please bear in mind that the condition of my joints are pretty shocking for a 27 year old. All the clicking are apparently coming from my joints.

Here's a quick article for your reference. I hope this helps.

http://arthritis.webmd.com/osteoarthritis-women-12/arthritis-supplements

Spadowski

It could just be your joints popping, and that sound is a pressurized gas escaping from a pocket near the joint. My chiropractor said the popping is harmless. He also said it's an old wives tale that cracking your knuckles, back, etc will make the joints larger. I can pop joints from my neck down to my toes. It does sound like bubble wrap, and drives my MIL crazy!

If there's pain/discomfort along with the popping, I'd see a chiropractor or orthopedic doc rather than risk hurting your knees. If you are looking for a low impact exercise, you can get a mini trampoline from a sporting goods store and jump on that to music. Fun times!

Spadowski

Hi Mazdauk,

I have the exact same problem. I am not sure if this will work for you but someone has advised me to take Glucosamine, Chondroitin+MSM supplements. They apparently help with joint health and ease the pain from osteo-arthritis. Please bear in mind that the condition of my joints are pretty shocking for a 27 year old. All the clicking are apparently coming from my joints.

Here's a quick article for your reference. I hope this helps.

http://arthritis.webmd.com/osteoarthritis-women-12/arthritis-supplements

MSM is phenomenal! Took it after a car accident left me with lower back pain. After a year of constant pain, and an orthopedic doc and chiro couldn't fix it, MSM finally did.

Weighinginwithmy02

The other thing that seems to help me with my crunchy knees is taking Glucosamine. It actually seems to help with the various aches and pains I get.

I also suggest Glucosamine but you need the one with the Glucosamine and Chondroitin in it (I don't know anything about +MSM supplements so cannot comment on that). Glucosamine Chondroitin will take a while to get into your system and start working its magic, but it will work.

currlee

I use a liquid glucosamine that I really like. The brand is Wellessee. You can feel the results in 7 days(according to the bottle) as opposed to up to six weeks with tablets. My coach recommends Chia seed. She said her knees can really tell when she runs out. I have yet to try any. Form is also important. Have a full length mirror so you can make sure your knees are staying behind your toes. And listen to your body: if it hurts, don't do it or modify it so its not causing pain. Happy working out!

Lupercalia

If you're not having pain when you hear those funny sounds, it's probably fine. My knees and hips pop and crack and it's fine. So do my son's, and he's a dancer. It's ok unless accompanied by pain. If you're worried or feeling pain, see a doctor or chiropractor about it.

LinaBo

I would check with your doctor, to be sure. It could be nothing, or it could be something that you need to use modified exercises for until you take some of the weight off of your knees, at least. You being a woman over 40, I definitely do not recommend powering through it with an MD's approval.

I'm 30, but I'm carrying a LOT of extra weight, so my knees and hip click, and my knees grind like ball bearings rubbing together, when I squat. I lack the stability to do certain things with them right now, but hopefully that will improve with weight loss (hopefully. I have added medical issues, so we'll see). One thing that I found really built up my legs while getting around the joint issues was to do jump squats in the shallow end of my local pool. Having the water somewhere between hip-bone and waist height is about right. Consider looking into aqua-fit classes in your neighbourhood.

danmcgarrigle5

could be your quads aren't, how do I describe it, balanced in their strength. Basically they can pull your kneecap off track. I had that and it was made worse because of an injury. My knee would sound like someone bending an empty 20oz bottle back and forth doing just regular daily activities. I did a lot of physical therapy because I was so young at the time to strengthen my quads evenly and still ended up needing surgery to fix the problem. I broke my knee cap in half when I was 15. It took until I was 21 to find a doctor that didn't just chalk it up to growing pains and tell me to do more physical therapy. I had worked out my legs to the point I broke the leg press machine because of the weight on it, I was doing 3 sets of 10 at 1270 lbs it would have been more but w ran out of 45lbs plates and room on the bars. I was doing full stack leg extensions, with one leg and a person sitting on the pad as well. Once I had the surgery the doctor said I had the worse 21 year old knee he had ever seen. Now that leg is stronger and better than my "good" knee. I keep an eye on my quads and keep track of how my knee's feel and I will modify the leg extension by turning my foot in or out depending on which muscle I want to focus on.

I would talk to a doctor and ask about this, most people don't have it as bad as I did and can fix it with exercise and sometimes a special knee brace for a short time

blobby10

It's quite common I assume - this is based on the sound of 10 sets of knees creaking and cracking in our circuits class on Wednesday morning! As others have said so long as theres no pain then dont worry too much. I 've heard Glucosamine can be good for joints - better in liquid than pills if you can

Sullivanwilson

My right knee has popped for decades. And I've been athletic all my life so my knees have been asked to do quite a lot. Every time I squat, bend down to pick something up etc. it pops. It's painless; I think the minute it started to hurt I would see a doctor.

Just one woman's experience.

mazdauk

Thanks all! Having read all these and done some research its most likely osteoarthritis, exacerbated by me being overweight :ohwell: I do low impact aerobics, and no lifting, running, staurs etc. I'm walking more and its getting less painful. I'll try some glucosamine - I'm taking magnesuim at the moment (apparently its good for "women"!) and tht helps (if I remember to take it).

I blame loads of dancing when I was young, follwoed by hrse riding in my teens, followed by tap through my child-bearing! Oh and I blame my mum, because apparently its hereditary (and I was blaming her bad knees on her weight!)

imadyer

I'm only 34 and have had crunchy knees for several years. It's embarrassing going down the stairs at work. When someone asks what that noise is, I say "don't listen!" I can't take glucosamine chondroitin because I'm allergic to shellfish. I just try to watch it doing squats. i fit starts hurting, I just don't go as low. but sometimes it seems there's no helping it. I feel your pain!

foxro

Absolutely, one of the reasons for me to drop the pounds

4FitChris

Don't give up the exercise! Pain now, less pain later. It will never go completely away. But it will become more managable. Grade yourself on a scale the day after every workout. I do this often with my knees. Cardio every day makes what was once an 8-10, now 0-2. Leg weight lifting helps too. Hit it hard, then recover lightly the next day. The pain will intensify at first, then lessen as your legs get stronger. Energy, fitness, attitude, spirals upward with regular hard intervals. Ignore the popping. That went down also.

Daveb1355

My knees crunch too, which sort of creeps me out. My doctor told me that as long as its not hurting, then just be a little careful. If its starts to hurt, then I need to get concerned. He recommend that I strengthen the muscles around my knees to help protect them.

Running has been helpful for me. My knees never bend to that angle where they crunch when I run. When I bike for any distance, my knees hurts because they hit that angle.... over and over and over.

Good luck!

jackaroo21

Bump

danimalkeys

1- you are not that overweight
2- if it doesn't hurt then don't worry about it. If I worried about every noise my 50 year old body makes I'd never get out of bed!

SanteMulberry

Thanks all! Having read all these and done some research its most likely osteoarthritis, exacerbated by me being overweight :ohwell: I do low impact aerobics, and no lifting, running, staurs etc. I'm walking more and its getting less painful. I'll try some glucosamine - I'm taking magnesuim at the moment (apparently its good for "women"!) and tht helps (if I remember to take it).

I blame loads of dancing when I was young, follwoed by hrse riding in my teens, followed by tap through my child-bearing! Oh and I blame my mum, because apparently its hereditary (and I was blaming her bad knees on her weight!)

Yes, it is genetic---scientists now know which gene is responsible. It used to be thought that osteoarthritis was just from "wear and tear" (which certainly doesn't help) but the inflammatory attack on the cartilage in a joint is due to genetic influences. It is extremely common (about 2/3 of older people have it). The thought is, that somewhere waaaaay back in our ancestry, the gene mutated. So, hi cousin! What has made mine SERIOUSLY better is: 1) weight reduction 2) eliminating wheat and sugar (which has also helped significantly with fat loss) 3) pool exercise and 4) taking supplements like, a combo product consisting of glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM; I also take turmeric extract and finally egg shell membrane (you can make your own from a recipe on the web, if you can't find it--I would use organic egg shells). You can find a combo product of turmeric and egg shell membrane but it is VERY expensive so I am just going to make my own egg shell membrane and since I already take turmeric extract, I don't need the extra turmeric. Another supplement that I like is bromelain (an extract from the pineapple plant). It helps to break down fibrotic lesions caused by the chronic inflammation. I also eat a lot of homemade soups made with lower sodium organic chicken broth. Chicken broth has been shown to help osteoarthritis sufferers. You might not need all the supplements that I take but my arthritis had gotten very, very bad as I became less active and added more weight. I am now able to lift weights and go to the pool for exercise twice a week.

mazdauk

Well, I can't swim and am allergic to turmeric and shellfish :ohwell: But I've been sticking with my Rosemary Conley (which is cardio and toning) and found I'm getting less pain and more flexibility - the first couple of warm-up squats etc are noisy (and slightly painful) but by the end its not hurting and it doesn't hurt next day.

Thanks all for the advice and support!!

SanteMulberry

Well, I can't swim and am allergic to turmeric and shellfish :ohwell: But I've been sticking with my Rosemary Conley (which is cardio and toning) and found I'm getting less pain and more flexibility - the first couple of warm-up squats etc are noisy (and slightly painful) but by the end its not hurting and it doesn't hurt next day.

Thanks all for the advice and support!!

Glad that the cardio is working for you--but if it ever starts causing you more problems, you CAN do aquatic exercise. You don't need to swim to do aquatic exercise--it is done at the shallow end of the pool--and there are classes specifically designed to benefit arthritic folk. You can strap on a foam belt and do it at the deep end if you want (that's usually what I do because I think I get a better workout in the deep end--but then I'm a swimmer and fairly confident in the water). Sorry you can't do the turmeric or glucosamine. You might want to try the egg shell membrane as I feel that has been the most effective of anything that I take. Good luck!

traceyjj

Well, I can't swim and am allergic to turmeric and shellfish :ohwell: But I've been sticking with my Rosemary Conley (which is cardio and toning) and found I'm getting less pain and more flexibility - the first couple of warm-up squats etc are noisy (and slightly painful) but by the end its not hurting and it doesn't hurt next day.

Thanks all for the advice and support!!

Do you go to a gym, and if so does it have a pool. One of the things I was recommended by the trainer who gave me my gym induction was to walk in a pool. The water only needs to be waist deep, but its low impact and a bit of resistance will build the muscles up around your knee. My knee has been much less noisy recently, but it still sounds like its grinding sometimes Has the doctor looked at it and made a diagnosis? It could be worth checking it out.

Timshel_

I sound like I am walking on rice paper coming down the stairs every morning. I swear i could wake everyone up.

kimberly728

I'm only 34 and have had crunchy knees for several years. It's embarrassing going down the stairs at work. When someone asks what that noise is, I say "don't listen!" I can't take glucosamine chondroitin because I'm allergic to shellfish. I just try to watch it doing squats. i fit starts hurting, I just don't go as low. but sometimes it seems there's no helping it. I feel your pain!

check GNC... I'm taking a 1000mg glucosamine that is vegetarian... it has no shellfish in it. it states it right no the front of the bottle.

JacquiC72

My knees crunch, usually when I do squats or lunges. I haven't been to the gym regularly for 6 months (just geting back into it) but the last time I was going regularly, I found using the leg press machine helped to strengthen my knees. I'm now back to the gym, back to crunchy knees and also back to the leg press and my lunges have increased from 5 each leg to 7 in a week.

missigus

I have same thing and went to ortho doc. because I was having pain with it. Wound up w bursitis in both knees, because I insisited on doing squats and lunges dispite the pain. The bursitis was a result of fluid build up and from having chondomalacia (sp?). My cartilage is gone on the back of the paetella (kneecap) on one knee. Usually, it's more common in women and it happens because the tendon that attaches to the kneecap pulls off to one side and causes the kneecap to track improperly resulting in rough cartilage or eventual loss, hence the grinding and popping noise you hear. If you have pain, do not ignore it! Watch the lunges and squats, as they put a lot of pressure on the kneecap. I did therapy and take MSM supplements, both which helped a ton. No more squats and lunges for me, but I can do just about everything else with some extra care.

Sullivanwilson

OP- you and I have had parallel lives! As a child I had ballet class 3-4/week for years, and the last 27 years I've been riding horses. At this point I think I'd call a doctor if my knee *stopped* making a noise.

malawi447

Try doing lower impact strength exercises to build up the strength around the knees gradually. Also, a balance board like an indo board would help strengthen the little muscles around the knees and ankles.

The other thing that seems to help me with my crunchy knees is taking Glucosamine. It actually seems to help with the various aches and pains I get.

Definitely go for the Glucosamine. Get Glucosamine Sulfate instead of the Chondroitin kind. I heard doctors on a health radio talk program say that the kind with Chondroitin contains particles that are too large to be properly absorbed by our cells.