Every time I climb the stairs, my left knee clicks loudly.

I used to be a runner and have always been physically active. I probably am around 30-40lb overweight now, even though my stats say I'm very heavy. This is due to very large muscle mass so you have to ignore those. I'm not as fat as I appear to be.

Can anyone tell me why my knee is clicking and what exercises I can do to strenthen the muscle around the area?

Any other suggestions gratefully accepted.

Hey, my right knee crunches loudly, and my cat has a clicking joint too. The three of us could form a rhythm section in a band with our joints.

ROFLMAO! When I said 'any other suggestions' that's not what I meant!

What will we call ourselves? The Bees Knees?

I think it is usually arthritis that causes the clicking and crunching. Calcium deposits form (I think). My right knee isn't really painful usually, my quieter left knee is the one that often kicks up. Poor Indy limps, so I think his is probably painful.

Arthritis? Great.

Fish oils are good for that, right?

Supposed to be but I never have gotten any real pain relief from taking anything except NSAIDs. :\ Oh yes, glucosamine/chondritan just had a study that showed it doesn't work, so don't waste your money on that.

Do you have pain?

If there is no pain involved, then don't worry about it. Many things can cause joints to make noises.

Bicycling is great for strengthening the knees and it does not stress the joint.

Can I join the band too? I'm a whole rhythm section unto myself with musical knees, hips, wrists, elbows, ankles, fingers....ok, almost ALL my joints do this!

My doc says if it doesn't hurt, ignore it.

When my knees started to hurt I had them checked and found bilateral chondromalacia: calcium deposits and torn cartilage in both knees. Simple surgery to correct and they stopped hurting.

When's band practice?

Julie

We need someone really skinny with ribs sticking out to be marimabas.

My ortho told me that crunching is arthritis and clicking is tendons/ligaments.

Sitting and doing leg raises to strengthen the quad is supposed to support the knee.

As I told my DH once we were dating - my left knee also clicks - but only in "certain" positions. I winked and told him that he would find out which, soon enough.

Jokes and smut aside

My knee has also recently started clicking on the elliptical trainer, which is supposed to be extremely low impact. It hurts a little bit post exercise and I always worry about what will happen to it in the long run.

I've also got crunchy, clicky knees. Am just finishing off a pack of glucosamine -chonwhatever and it hasn't helped, so that matches this new study.
I've been talked into getting a mini-trampoline by my physiotherapist as she says jogging on that is low impact and gives you weight-bearing exercise. I haven't used it yet, it's a xmas present.
Has anyone with gammy knees had any experience of using these things?

Yes, I've got one actually. It's fine for the knee. I bounce a lot and have no adverse affects. It's great for thigh and calf muscles and quiet! No whiring or clicking from a workout machine.... so you can watch TV whilst bouncing.
I don't recommend you do the ironing though. That's tricky.

The knee has got worse since the cold started in the UK.

Now, on another forum I've posted questions about knees, and one person said that Glucosamine took 6 weeks to kick in ...(pun not intended).

Not only that, but another person recommended cycling to strengthen muscles around the area.

LOL! Did you actually try this?

http://orthopedics.about.com/od/hip...neesymptoms.htm

http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/joints.asp

http://athletics.cerrocoso.edu/spor...ee_injuries.htm

These sites have simple explanations for our common knee sounds. I've had "noisy" knees since I was a teenager. It used to often "go out" when playing volleyball or other sports that required sudden pivots or turns. It would be extremely painful and swolen for about the next week. I would hear a loud pop then instant pain. I haven't had the injuries or pain for many years, but the sounds are loud and clear-I could join the knee band too.