What do creaky knees mean

Daily moderate exercise is much better for your joints than occasional strenuous exercise. Focus on low-impact activities that build stamina, strength, and flexibility, such as yoga, walking, biking, swimming, and weight lifting. These types of exercise can help enhance circulation, improve your range of motion, and build the muscles that surround the knee joints.

Aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. Skip to content Lots and lots of people have knees which make crunch, grate or make crackle noises when they bend them.

Why do they crunch or crackle? The muscles at the inside front of the knee which form part of the quadriceps muscle the VMO are very frequently wasted in this condition. If you try and fully straighten your knee and flex your foot up toward the shin, this muscle should form a bulge on the inside of the knee just above the kneecap. Sometimes these muscles may be present but not fire at the right time and patients have to be instructed on how to fire them.

Correct firing of this muscle is very important for normal patellofemoral joint mechanics. This muscle wastes away very quickly following surgery or after a knee injury especially if the knee joint swells up. We often see patients who have had a knee operation for a different condition and subsequently developed anterior knee pain.

This is usually remedied with strengthening up the VMO again. An Australian physiotherapist, named Jenny McConnell, became famous in the sports medicine world for her treatment programme for this condition.

Most New Zealand physiotherapists are able to carry out this "McConnell" programme. Taping is used to help correct the kneecap position by correcting the glide and the tilt of the kneecap and stretching tight structures on the outside of the kneecap. Because the knee feels less painful strapped the muscles will fire off better. Specific strengthening exercises are carried out for the VMO with the knees strapped in the correct position. I sometimes see young athletes who have been denied Phys-Ed sometimes for years on the basis of a diagnosis of "chondromalacia".

This shouldn't happen as true "chondromalacia" almost never occurs at this age. Rest if anything makes the condition worse by allowing further weakening of the key muscles and not altering the biomechanics of the lower limb. Rehabilitation in this group may be very rewarding. Children and adolescents with parental encouragement are usually happy to do their exercises knowing that they can become active and painfree again.

If you have "movie-goers knee" and are apprehensive about your knee going up or down stairs with or without pain or clicking, then don't assume you have knee joint arthritis. Another risk factor for crepitus related to PFS is trauma to the knee. This could be due to a fall or hitting the knee on the dashboard of a car in a road traffic accident. The individual may experience crepitus when climbing stairs or after sitting for a long time with the knees bent, as well as pain, swelling, puffiness, and stiffness.

Anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy exercises can also relieve it. If these do not help, splinting, surgery, or both may be necessary. They may help to realign part of the knee.

To prevent this problem, anyone who is exercising or participating in sports should make sure they always use appropriate techniques, footwear, and equipment, and be sure to warm up before starting. Crepitus can also be a sign of a torn meniscus. A meniscus can tear during sports activities, such as when a person twists their knee.

It can also happen as people get older and the meniscus wears thin. Normally, the person can still use the knee, but stiffness and swelling may appear over the next 2 to 3 days. Sometimes surgical repair is necessary. If crepitus occurs with pain, this can be an early sign of osteoarthritis OA of the knee.

OA is normally a result of wear and tear, and it tends to develop and worsen with age. In OA, the cartilage that covers the ends of bones in the joints gradually wears away. Bones rub on this increasingly rough surface, resulting in pain and mobility issues. It is more likely among people with obesity or those who have had an injury in the past. A study published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage found that women aged 45 to 60 years who had both crepitus and patellofemoral pain had a 72 percent chance of developing OA, although they did not yet have a diagnosis of OA.

If a person has an early diagnosis of OA, the Osteoarthritis Foundation suggest using nonsurgical options to slow the progression, maximize mobility, and improve strength. As OA progresses, treatment through medication or even knee replacement surgery may be necessary.

Research published in Clinics in Orthopedic Surgery shows that up to 18 percent of people who have a total knee arthroplasty TKA , or knee replacement, will experience crepitus. This may due to the design and fit of the new knee. However, if problems persist, a doctor may recommend debridement, a minor surgical procedure to remove debris from around the joint. Another reason for crepitus after surgery is arthofibrosis, or the development of scar tissue. This can lead to pain and stiffness in the joint.

It can also happen after a traumatic injury. If the person experiences pain and stiffness after an injury or surgery, they should see a doctor. The doctor may recommend monitoring the knee, and it may need treatment. Often, however, crepitus that follows an injury or surgery is not serious. Doctors suggest that , for some people, the crepitus may have been there before, but an increased awareness how the joint is reacting makes it more noticeable now.

Treatment may not be necessary.