Creaky Knee?

Hi there -

I have always had a creaky knee, has always creaked when I walk up the stairs, but I'm starting to notice it a lot more now that I'm incorporating lunges and squats into my workouts.  It's not painful at all, just noisy and grosses me out a little bit!  Anyone else experience this?  Should I be concerned?  Is there anything I can do to prevent it?  Like I said, it's not painful at all, my knee isn't swollen and is never achy or sore.

Thank you!

My knees are quite similar. However, I've found that I've started to experience slight pains after a long workout with lunges and the like.

I feel like though if it doesn't hurt, there's no point in stopping unless the sound is too weird. Just be careful and go slowly on anything involving knees- if you have something wrong with your knees than going fast can risk hurting it seriously.

My left knee creaks too. I've been doing personal training sessions for almost a year now and it hasn't stopped or gotten any worse. No pain either. I think it's just the way it is.

My family has a history of bad knees and my knees are crunchy. I can hear them crunching when I go up stairs, but I've been fortunate to make it to 39 without major pain like most of the rest of my immediate family.

My trainer recommended glucosamine, which I read up on and decided to give a go. It's been a couple of weeks that I've been taking it, and I think I'm seeing some benefit.

Remarkably, the FDA has done studies on glucosamine and does see its benefits for mild joint problems.

I've been taking it in EmergenC-style packets I get at Trader Joe's, but I know my landlord gets big bottles of pills at Costco.

Original Post by dreadfulpenny:

My family has a history of bad knees and my knees are crunchy. I can hear them crunching when I go up stairs, but I've been fortunate to make it to 39 without major pain like most of the rest of my immediate family.

My trainer recommended glucosamine, which I read up on and decided to give a go. It's been a couple of weeks that I've been taking it, and I think I'm seeing some benefit.

Remarkably, the FDA has done studies on glucosamine and does see its benefits for mild joint problems.

I've been taking it in EmergenC-style packets I get at Trader Joe's, but I know my landlord gets big bottles of pills at Costco.

I have crunchy knees as well when I squat down. I've never had a knee injury or problems in my life, but when I hit the age of 25, my knees started to become crap. I now understand why my father always said he had bad knees, it's just something that is genetic.

I'm going to try glucosamine because barbell squats are one of the best exercises ever.

I did read that it could be a condition called Chondromalacia.

 Fish oil can also come in handy; whenever I forget to take mine my finger joints start aching. (thank you so much, family history of arthritis :-P)

If you are going to take glucosamine, make sure you take it in a supplement coupled with chondroitin.  They need to be together to work together (i.e. aids absorption).  Also, if people have some pain associated with creaky knees, they can take the above supplement and add another one called MSM.  I have creaky knees that started to hurt when I started working out.  I take all of the above supplements.  It can take 4-6 weeks before you start noticing effects though.  I get my glucosamine through bodybuilding.com.  I definitely recommend theirs, I have been on several (like flexamin) and find their product to be superior.  Hope this helps!  (P.S.  If you eat a lot of naturally containing sulfur (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables) you probably don't need the MSM.  But, it has helped me.  I take it even though I eat a lot of fruit and veggies.)

Good luck!

*loads up on fish oil, and glucosamine with chondroitin and MSM*

Thank you for all of the replies.  Are those things I can pick up at the grocery store or would I be better off hitting a specialty store like GNC?  Thanks again!

 Fish oil is best taken in the form of sea trout, mackerel or salmon, but you can usually find it in capsule form in the vitamin section. The other stuff you might need to hit up GNC for, or you could just order it on Amazon.

 One or the other might be more convenient depending on how close the GNC is to you.

I have found the glucosamine and chondroitin I get from bodybuilding.com was a higher quality, and equivalent in price to the market, so I buy it online.  I buy my MSM through them too for convenience.  As for the fish oil, make sure you buy some that says "no burp."  Otherwise, you may burp up that fishy taste.  I take that as well.  :)  My health food nut friend who runs got me hooked on all of this stuff.  Now I feel better than ever (coupled with exercise and healthy diet of course). :)