crunch crunch
Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.
Place you right hand on your right kneecap.
Now straighten your right leg.
What did you feel? Was it just the smooth motion of muscle, bone and ligaments? Mine doesn’t feel like that. It goes crunch crunch. Like you have a bundle of celery that you are twisting. Crunch crunch.
It does it on both knees but the right one has a constant dull ache to it. I’ve never had this before. My kneed used to be creaky when I was training for the marathon, but the knee never crunched when I had my hand on it. And it didn’t have pain like this.
Would someone kindly tell me just what the hell is going on here? How could I be fine 6 months ago and suddenly everything is just breaking apart. Its crazy.
I did my 35 minute tempo run tonight and felt a little stiff at the beginning but after that I felt pretty good. Until my knee starting hurting after I got back.
Some thoughts were:
1) I’m not stretching like I used to. The house is so full of stuff there is no place (and I’m really serious here) to stretch out.
2) All hard road running. Its killing me.
3) No crosstraining. I used to get crosstraining at the gym and that all vanished. Although, I am going to be able to start up again.
4) No weight training. I used to get that in there too and it all stopped. I may be able to pick some of this up again with the crosstraining.
5) I gained weight. This isn’t helping and lack of crosstraining makes it worse.
6) I got old. I’ve spotted grey hair. There’s a real possibility that I may actually be old.
Thoughts?
October 4th, 2006 22:27
wear & tear on the body accumulates from birth until the present. you may not notice symptoms until it’s accumulated past a certain perceptible threshold, in your case, the crunch crunch threshold! :-) how much water do you drink every day? are you taking omega-3s and glucosamine-chondroitin? (they’ve been known to decrease inflammation in the joint space) do you do do joint mobilization exercises for all ranges of motion in your hips, knees, and ankles daily? have you tried running on softer surfaces instead of pavement?
just some questions that may help you get to the bottom of this.
October 4th, 2006 22:56
Dolly has your number chocolate boy! More water!!!More stretches, he says as he goes off to get that extra glass that he has been neglecting… Run Good!
October 4th, 2006 23:53
my knees crunch too. i’ve often wondered if that’s a problem. i don’t really get knee pain (too often), so i’m guessing it’s ok.
maybe we should take a survey.
October 5th, 2006 00:06
Mine crunch a little. Maybe like one old stalk of celery. They didn’t use to crunch at all. I am old. But there is no pain.
Is the pain in the front of the knee? Inside? Outside? Above/below kneecap? Those knees got a lotta moving parts.
October 5th, 2006 01:22
Dude, I’ve been there. You need quad exercises to strenghten your quad and make your patella track properly. And, of course, NSAID’s and ice.
And i have gray hair. And I’m still hot! You probably are too. Besides, gray hair looks much better on men. Distinguished and all that. Women just have to dye it.
October 5th, 2006 03:10
My knees have always crunched, at least as far as I can remember (which isn’t far these days). I don’t have any pain, so I guess it’s just a sign of getting old, along with gray hair and the increased challenge to keep the weight off. But look at the bright side, at least you still have hair ;-)
October 5th, 2006 08:47
How old are you? Many of these comments are right on track. Lots of water, strengthening the quads, running on softer surfaces if you can find them. You can also take Traumeel or Arnica for inflammation.
October 5th, 2006 08:54
Gray does not mean you are old…I have had spots of gray since I was six.
Thanks for leaving the comment on my blog! Hopefully I will still have time for running with all the house stuff to do…and Lord knows this house will take up a lot of my time!
October 5th, 2006 08:59
Jon you’re just finding grey hair now? I know you’re at least 25 yrs older than me, and i’ve had greys for A LONG time now.
I vote for glucosamine and h20. Or we’ll just shoot you like a lame horse.
:)
October 5th, 2006 10:05
Hey Jon - it was nice meeting ya in New Haven. Knees - I hear that - I have only been running for a couple of months and my left knee has been the bane of my running existence (which is a pretty big part of my life these days).
i was having pain on the lateral aspect, reproducible with pressure. I think i might have some IT band pain - so i started doing some stretches that I saw online. I actually went and found a reference from an orthopedics journal which had a picture of a stretch. things have been better since.
but who’s to say that crunching is bad - those 3 little guys from the rice krispies commercial would probably be very upset if you got rid of their cute little sounds.
but seriously, old is in the eyes of the one aging. i always compare it to feeling cold. if you go outside and it’s cold and you repeatedly tell yourself that you’re not cold - it’s amazing how you can tolerate the cold better. so too with age - but then again “I don’t want to grow up - I’m a Toys R’ Us kid!
Cya at New Haven, hopefully, next year - 20k here I come!
October 5th, 2006 10:12
I was diagnosed with patellarfemoral dysfunction about 5 weeks ago. One of the docs I work with told me that it’s quite common. Basically, the kneecap (patella) doesn’t track in the groove as it should for me. The way to work it out? I do many, many exercises for my medial (inner) quads. The hope is that with strengthening this muscle, it will puuuulllll that patella back into the groove. Women as also suscpetible to this condition as the angle ratio from hip to knee is greater than men (good ol’ childbearing hips), so we already have a tick mark against us.
RICE always helps me. Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. I pop 800 mgs. of Motrin before I run, stretch thoroughly ALWAYS and do my knee exercises 3-4 times per DAY EVERY DAY.
While this may not “cure” the celery sound, it certainly can’t hurt.
Email me if you’d like specifics on the exercises that I do for the medial quad.
October 5th, 2006 10:44
you need the foam roller for the dull ache and if the crunch is not painful - probably just need some lubrication as in water. i can’t help you with the senility.
October 5th, 2006 12:23
Everone has given great advise on the crunchy knees, as far as the hair is concerned you can always dye it or pluck the grey out. Then again if you shaved it the pain of keeping the grey out by plucking wouldn’t be as bad and you wouldn’t get the tormenting comment you would if you dyed it either.
October 5th, 2006 13:27
let’s see, my right knee crunched on command; let’s see how I compare:
1) me neither, except I never really ever stretched properly
2) me too. nothing but roads around here
3) um, what is crosstraining? does laundry count?
4) again, weights? Does a 5 year old count?
5) yep. check and check.
6) right there with you!
So, I’ve got Jon knee? At least I know what’s causing it now! And since it’s John knee, the cure must be chocolate! yippee!
October 5th, 2006 13:28
sorry, didn’t mean to misspell your name the 2nd time — I’m married to a John with an “H” so it’s my default spelling
October 5th, 2006 13:29
Hey, yeah BOTH my knees feel like that. Its in the medial or inner part of the knee, beside the knee cap.
I feel everything from pin pricks to weird numb/cold feelings in and around the knee.
I do the VMO work like lisa mentioned to try to pull the knee into the groove again. (straight leg lifts)
So far, no change in my knees at all.
I also have to wear knee strps so I can get out an ride, but running is nearly impossible now without causing more pain in the knees.
October 5th, 2006 15:11
Holy cow. You just have to whisper the word “knee” around a group of runners, and everyone has a story! :)
Mine don’t crunch, but they sound a bit like the rustling of the plastic bag the celery is in.
Don’t give a second thought to the grey hair. It works well for men.
October 5th, 2006 22:17
I am going to guess it’s 1 through 6 that’s the trouble; But mostly #1. S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!!!
October 7th, 2006 12:14
Greetings, sounds like a rice krispies ad going on here. but seriously, maybe a bout of ITB if there’s pain involved. Yoga would be great for that.
The crunching sound is part of knee movement, i’d just focus more on the pain aspect
If you do go back to weight training, be veeeeery careful of some of those knee exercises.
To footloose and fancy free
GP in Montana