Iam 40 years old now born in 13/08/1970 iam 55 kgs of weight and a regular exercise enthusiast

Iam suffering from osteoarthiritis for the past 2 years after i played some weekend cricket for some 3 months.

Iam going to gym for the same to strengthen my thigh and calf muscles.

But off late my knee craking has increased and today it pains a lot for me.

My doctor says that as i continue going to the gym the cracking nosie will come down.

Is this correct kindkly help me in solving my craking of my knees.

it would be of great help if you could answer this.

kind regards,

maheshtj

The article was deliberately short as there is so much to this subject and i didn’t want to bore everyone……

There is a contradiction between tension and relaxation with your muscles. As an example whiplash is a real problem from car accidents and in particular from the martial arts. Generally to better protect any joint you need to strengthen the muscles and maintain or improve your flexibility.

If you use a lot of force to stretch, it is likely that you will over extend the ligaments. If you go to far you can actually snap or damage them. Recovery from this is problematic and in some cases requires surgery as it compromises the stability of the joint. This in turn causes arthritis / excessive wear and tear.

You need a routine that gently twists the neck without going to extremes. The so called internal martial arts very much have stretching routines that deal with these problems, although usually you will find this in a Tai Chi class. The warm up had their roots in preventing whiplash injuries when you were thrown around. These days, they are mainly used to maintain flexibility and heal injuries, so well worth having a look at.

Most people will experience some degree of clicking when you move your neck in the manner you describe. It is normally caused by either excessive tension in the neck area or calcium deposits (calcification). Milk and diary foods aren’t very well handled by our bodies and frequently end up as deposits in your joints.

The clicking is rarely a problem, but may be a warning that you may need to have a look at your diet.

I have been debating for a long time whether to write a book on clicking joints and what to do about them. If there is enough interest I will put this together!

Thanks

Steve

Since about a year my neck cracks and clunks.
The cracking is a bit like how knuckles can crack, although I don’t do anything to make this happen myself. The clunking mostly happens when I move my left ear to my shoulder and then bring my head upright again. I’m about to see my doctor about this. There is no real pain, but frankly I’m very worried.

This sounds reassuring though:
“Once the muscles are stronger, you can consult your general practitioner for bringing back the ligaments into proper shape.”

I always thought ligaments are like elastic bands: once overstretched they never return to their proper shape. How would one get them back in shape though? Through strengthening exercises?

I also appreciate the links to our blog in the related blogs section. However, I would recommend linking to this article instead. http://www.clearstaichi.com/chi-healing/arthritis-tai-chi-544 The links above have more to do with the martial side of Tai Chi than it’s effect on Arthritis.

These sorts of pains are not unusual especially given your age. You are still growing and normally expereince a peak around your age. Joint and bone pains can be common and are not normally anything to worry about. The chances are this pain will pass shortly.

Although there are other possibilities, your age would normally rule this out unless you have injured the joint.

Clicking is another pretty common condition. It is frequently caused by calcification, where calcium deposits occur within the joint. Dairy products are the cause of this as the calcium is not in a form that your body can readily absorb and often ends up deposited in our joints. Necks are the most common place for clicking, but knees follow closely….

Misalignment of your knee when moving can also account for pain and clicking. When aligned properly, if the clicking disappears then you need to have a careful look at how you are bending the knee and also look at reinforcing the support muscles.

However, these aren’t the most likely causes, they tend to occur in someone older.

Hope this helps. I have been looking at writing a book on clicking joints and what to do about them as there is an awful lot of misinformation on the internet.

Thanks

Steve