My Bad Knee is Driving Me Crazy!

[Gwenhwyfar]

Let me explain and say that I had this bad knee ever since I was a kid.  I remember one day, as a kid, feeling this stiffness in the back of my knee that wouldn't go away and wouldn't crack easily.  But I kept stretching and trying to crack it.  One day, I finally did manage to crack it and the stiffness was wonderfully gone; however, I soon discovered it hurt running on that knee for some time.  After the pain healed away, I found that my knee would occasionally make crackling and popping sounds when I would bend it or kneel down.

 

It has since remained with me and I find that it can really irritate me some days.  Like if I sit for long periods, not exercising, it will ache; or if I use that knee to stand up from kneeling on the ground, it will crackle and ache later.  I found that when I had a severe leg cramp, it would not stop crackling and popping every step I took with it, and it was very loud and clear.

 

It also seems like a very picky, bad knee because sometimes when I do exercise, it will feel better at first and then ache more later.

 

It's a mild irritation, but it's enough to drive me crazy and obsessed with researching what the problem could be online.  I did go to a doctor before about it and he said there was nothing he could do because I wasn't in serious pain and the knee wasn't dislocated.  He gave me an pamphlet on exercises to strengthen a weak knee, but I was bad and didn't follow it.  I probably should have, but I guess I was looking for a quick solution at the time...

 

My bad knee is my right knee and I mostly feel the pain on the right side of it.

 

Anyway, anyone else have any bad joints?  Have an idea on what the exact name for my knee problem might be, since I'm so obsessed with trying to find it on WebMD?  

[IncredibleH]

Most of the noise will be cartilage / ligament noise which if at the time it makes the noise is not painful then it's probably Knee Crepitus.

My knees were already worn out from Muay Thai, but when I had my right knee 180'd a number of years ago it had a lot of snap crackle and pop in it afterwards.  Make sure you warm up/down properly and pay special attention to those areas.  Exercises for your quads, hamstrings and glutes help strengthen around the knee, and if it's tight use a foam roller or get a sports massage by someone who knows what they're doing to keep the mobility.

There are some good Yoga poses for legs and knees - however don't go by pictures/articles on the Internet.  Small movements and variations in a yoga pose can change it from being beneficial to your recovery to actually making it worse.  My Yoga instructor has adjusted my poses a few times and the ripple effect it causes by either making the pose easier or harder is astounding.  EG: Just by activating and pulling the thigh muscle back to the bone in certain positions really does take the stress off my knees.  She can see this, and helps me accordingly.

Now, my knee pops out of the socket all too easily, usually when jogging or kicking a football/rugby ball/soccer ball (delete as applicable).  Because of this I wear a hinged knee brace to try and keep it together if I know I'm going to be doing something where my leg/knee extend at speed.

Hope that helps from a fellow knee sufferer.
 

[Raincloak]

I have a knee (left) which is put together crooked. Been that way since I was a baby, in fact I wore a brace on it for a while before I started to walk. It currently works fine, but I have to treat it with care, because it is prone to injury on account of being slightly crooked. It doesn't manage loads as effectively because when I bend that knee, the weight does not go straight forward over the shin, it goes slightly inward (to the right). It looks normal from a glance, but I did startle a physical therapist who put his hands on the joint when he was giving me a post race tune up.

So, I can't go all out on squats (I still do them, but not too heavy) and I run pretty slowly. It's funny cause I can put in the same effort as other girls at a track and yet I'm traveling slower. It's a bummer, but I console myself that at least the knee works and doesn't hurt most of the time. Like my teeth, it's crooked but functional. Could be worse. I'm enjoying what I have, someday I won't even have that much.