The knee snaps and creaks painfully –what to do? 

 

Many people have problems with their knees, sometimes they snap, creak or have pain –or all of them! In this article I will go though some possible reasons for the “sound effects” of the knee and what you could do about them.

The knee joint is the biggest joint of the human body and its optimal performance ensures effortless moving and acting. The knee joint links together three bones: femur, patella and tibia, in addition to that there is the tibiofibular joint right underneath the knee joint, which connects the tibia and fibula together. There are also various muscles and ligaments around the knee, so there are many types of tissues around the knee. That makes the knee hard to assess even for the professionals, since there are so many possibilities that could cause the pain, snapping and creaking.

The human body tends to snap and crack in time to times, which is normal if there isn’t pain during the cracking. Usually the snapping is just a sign that the pressure of the joint capsule is released or that a tendon “jumps” over a body structure. However, if there’s pain linked to the sound, it could be wise to find the source of the pain.

There’s also some kind of creaking on the knees on time to times. Sometimes you can’t hear it, but if you placed your palm on your knee, you would feel it while moving your knee. The creaking is a sign of something rubbing on some other tissue. The rubbing tissues can be the articulating surfaces of the knee joint, such as the articulating surfaces of the patella and the femur or the femur and the tibia. The articulating surfaces can be worn out, which can be a sign or osteoarthritis.

 

What to do with the symptoms?

 

I meet patients that have some symptoms in the knee weekly. Sometimes the symptoms are weak and they don’t even have pain, but sometimes the pain is just tough. So what do I do with those patients?

We begin the strength training almost always. The better the muscles work, the better the joint works. Of course, there are other things affecting the performance of the joint as well, but strong muscles promote the health of the joint always. If the knee joint is showing some symptoms, we will start to strengthen the muscles around that joint, such as:

 

  • Muscles of the tight
  • Muscles of the hamstrings
  • Muscles of the shin
  • Muscles of the calf

+ muscles of the glutes, since the glutes strongly affect the performance of the lower limb.

Many times my clients have for example imbalnce in muscle strength, which can be part of the reasons why they have symptoms. The client may have very strong tights, but weak hamstrings. Or the client has glutes that don’t activate optimistically, which can lead to problems with the

alignment of the lower limb, which can lead to pain in knee. There can be many reasons for the symptoms, but many of them can be solved with well-aimed strength training.

I often say to my clients that you don’t need to be afraid of pain. If there is just a little bit pain, I usually recommend the client to keep going till the end of the exercise. If the pain gets stronger and begins to affect the exercise, that exercise should be paused. If you are going to start training your muscle power now, you should remember the same thing: if the pain gets strong, try some other exercise. There are so many variations of different exercises, so you shouldn’t jump right into the hardest variation. For example, if the squat causes pain in your knees, try some of the following variations:

 

  • Squat with a resistance band around your tights, push your kne es towards outside all the time
  • Squat leaning against a wall with a swiss ball
  • Squat-hold for 30 sec leaning against a wall
  • The leg press

 

After finding a pain-free variation for yourself, keep doing it for a while and try the “normal” squat in a few weeks. Your lower limbs may already be stronger, so you may be able to perform a pain-free squat!

If you have tried strength training and your knee is still hurting, please go and see a doctor or a physiotherapist! The professionals are there to help you!