What causes knee sounds while walking?

Who wants to walk if all you're going to hear is a pop or a click coming from your knees? I know I don’t. It makes me feel like I’m getting old. 
Walking is supposed to help relax you, calm your mind and be good for your body, not make you go down an anxiety driving rabbit hole. How are you supposed to relax when every step you take there is a pop making you question if you are breaking something or causing arthritis. 

Walking is great for your body and your mind when you're not worried about your knees the whole time. So I wanted to explain a little bit about what is causing the pop, how to decide if the pop means anything, and how to stop your knee from popping. 

What is that popping? 
Most of the time when I see people with knees that are popping or clicking the noise is coming from their kneecap sliding sideways. Your kneecap should move up and down in a little gruve; however, sometimes it starts to slide sideways out of the gruve making a “pop” sound.  For most people this is not painful; however, for some people it's very uncomfortable. No matter what everyone wants to know why? Why has my knee cap started moving sideways instead of up and down? 

The reason for this popping and clicking noise is muscle imbalances in our legs. Our thigh muscles (there are 4 thigh muscles) control the direction of the kneecap so if one of these muscles get weak or lose length the kneecap is affected. This imbalance is normally caused by long periods of sitting (over weeks, months, years)  or an injury to the knee that caused your knee to swell. 

The fact you are getting out to walk is perfect! We just need to add a few other things to your program to reverse the muscle imbalance and stop your knees from making noise. 


What should you add to your walking routine? 

1. Stretching: A  stretch routine will help improve the muscle length balances in your legs and hips. Relaxing the tight muscle and allowing that knee cap to return to moving up and down. If you are more a class person I would strongly recommend yoga. 
   
2. Strengthening: Body weight exercises can make a world of difference in helping to balance out the muscle strength in your thighs and legs. Remember the reason the kneecap is moving sideways versus up and down is the muscles that move it are not working in coordination with each other well. Pilates and yoga can both help you balance the strength in your legs.
   
3. Physical therapy: If you have noticed that popping for longer than 2- 3 week or its painful not just loud and annoying you should have a movement professional look at your knee. Since our knees are sandwiched between the hip and ankle, they frequently get blamed for hip and ankle weakness. Over time if the popping is not stopped then you will develop arthritis in your knee. Many people will change the way they walk to avoid the pop which then adds stress to their backs or the opposite leg. This is why I’m stressing the importance of finding the root cause of the knee popping or clicking when it starts versus after year and years.  Having a physical therapy look at how your knee moves alone and with your hip and knee is key to finding the root cause of why your knee is popping. That is the best way to stop it now and from ever returning. 
   

If you would like more tips on how to stop knee problems from interrupting your walks go to this link for my EBOOK “10 Tips And Tricks To Stop Knee Pain From Derailing Your Fitness Goals! (No Brace, Medication, or Surgery required)”

If you would like to talk to a physical therapist about how a specialized program can help you overcome your loud knees  click this link. 
 

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Yes! stop knee troubles

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