Knee is "catching" during flexion

[Gogfather]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone's had their knee "catch" when trying to go from full extension to 90 degrees. I'm 6 weeks post-op from an ACL repair with a lateral meniscus repair. I have about 0-120 degrees ROM and am walking without crutches. The only problem I have is when I reach about 45 degrees of flexion I feel a bunch of pressure at my knee joint (right in the middle front ) when bending. If I just bend it past that pointslowly, the pressure releases and it's fine.

If it put my hand over the source of the pain, I can feel something releasing forward when the pressure lets go. It's not painful, but there's somthing moving in there when I bendI still have some swelling at the knee area so I'm wondering if this might be a side-effect of the swelling and will go away once the swelling subsides. Might it be loose cartilage or my knee isn't tracking properly?

It only happens if I go from full-extension to a bend. If I start from 5 degrees to a bend, I don't get it. Almost like locking out my knee in full extension is moving something in my knee.

[sharshar]

I HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM!

I'm 7 months post-op and unfortunately, I don't know what the reason for the catching is. It was much worse earlier in my recovery, when my muscles were weaker. By subsequently strengthening them, the catching doesn't happen as often, but it still occurs every now and then.

Some people have mistracking of their patella due to muscular weakness, but in my case, the patella doesn't seem to be the thing that is catching. Have you checked to see if it's your patella? I'm quite dumbfounded at the moment as to what it could be...hopefully someone else has any ideas? I'm glad I'm not the only one in this boat!

[Gogfather]

At least it's good to hear I'm not the only one but this kind of thing sucks. It's going to make me think a little when I return to sports. Right now it happens quite frequently when I walk and if I ignore the pressure and just move my knee through the "catch", I feel a pop and then it's back to normal. It's not painful, just annoying.

I see you've almost got the same injury as me. Did you get your lateral meniscus repaired or cut away? I got mine repaired, which might be some part of the problem. I'm hoping my ctaching will get better as I exercise and the swelling goes away completely. I just hate having to walk so slowly because of this. Everything else feels fine except there's always this thought in the back of my head that it's going to catch again.

This ACLR is definitely alot harder to rehab than the last one I did, but then again I'm 10 years older and I did quite a number on this knee than the other one.

Cheers!

[Janet]

I have a similar problem, although I'm not sure it's exactly what you're describing. I feel like the bottom of my patella is getting caught in the patella tendon. It only happens if I go from full extension, even a little hyperextension, and is worse when weight bearing. I usually stand with my leg bent slightly to prevent it. If I stand still with my leg straight and with weight on that leg, it will "catch." I usually have to take the weight off by lifting from the hip and wiggle my knee around to get it to release.

It used to be worse when my quads were really weak. My OS tells me he thinks it is catching on the articular cartilege defect on the back of my patella. I make accommodations for it and live around it.

Janet

[sharshar]

I had part of my lateral meniscus trimmed. I WISH I got it repaired...it would save me the agony of wondering if every little impact exercise is moving one step closer to early-onset arthritis. The catching isn't where it was trimmed though, so I'm not sure if the meniscus trimming is part of the problem.

I mentioned that something was shifting in my knee to my OS and pointed to where I felt it (in the front of the knee below the kneecap), and he said it could be a meniscus tear and suggested getting an MRI. I'm on summer break from college right now, so going through more knee issues/surgeries is definitely not on my priority list right now. We decided to just keep exercising and strengthening it to see if it gets better. I highly doubt it's a meniscus tear, since I didn't really do any heavy exercise and there is no pain accompanied with the shifting.

I really wish we knew what's causing our symptoms!

[Gogfather]

Wow, Janet's knee kind of sounds like mine too. Mine totally gets worse after leaving my knee straight for a while. I don't want to have to compensate for it so I guess I'll just have to try and smooth out the bumps by exercising. Sounds like muscle strength is key to a better prognosis.

[CathR]

Hi guys

Have only just come across this post and it is exactly what I am experiencing at 7 weeks post ACLr.  As a few weeks have passed since you wrote I wondered if anything had happened, is it easier now, have you spoken to OS about it? I am seeing my OS on Thursday and am going  to mention it then.

Kind Regards

[Gogfather]

well, I'm now 3 months post-ACLR and the catching has gotten alot better. My OS said it was mostly due to my quad strength. Tighten up the quads and it will pull the patella up and relieve the catching. So far it's felling pretty good but I'm still not walking with a full extension. I can get full extension in my exercises but not by merely tightening my quads. I notice at the last few degrees of extension, there is considerably more clicking occuring when I straighten it out.

I think I'm going to step up the physio and try to work out the kinks. Swimming has helped quite a bit.

[laura26]

This is EXACTLY what I am getting at the moment!  So relieved someone else in the world has experienced the same thing!  Don't suppose any of you are using this forum anymore...but if you are - have all of your knees made a full recovery??

[likewoa2007]

I have that problem still but its easing up.  The reason is caused by  having a weak quadricep.   It gets better dont worry.  Its because the quad is weak and your knee is doing all the work.   
Hope that helps

[laura26]

Yeah that helps!  My physio suggesting it might be a tracking problem connected to the weakness of my quads but I've been unsure because it doesn't seem to be getting any better!  Walking is really slow because - when I walk properly in 'heel to toe, extension to flexion' action - the leg catches (at about 45 degrees) and I have to wait a bit for it to push through and bend.  Such a relief other people have had the same problem though.

[jackson7]

I'm also having this problem.  I tore my meniscus over a year ago, but even 2 MRI's didn't show anything wrong, so i kept waiting/hoping it would get better.  I finally decided on an exploratory scope, but, by this time, my muscles had atrophied too much and my kneecap is now maltracking/catching most of the time.  Hope PT can make it work because, right now, i can barely walk...and it sucks so bad.

[unicron]

well, I'm now 3 months post-ACLR and the catching has gotten alot better. My OS said it was mostly due to my quad strength. Tighten up the quads and it will pull the patella up and relieve the catching. So far it's felling pretty good but I'm still not walking with a full extension. I can get full extension in my exercises but not by merely tightening my quads. I notice at the last few degrees of extension, there is considerably more clicking occuring when I straighten it out.

I think I'm going to step up the physio and try to work out the kinks. Swimming has helped quite a bit.

I'm a few days from 2 months post ACL allograft.  a sketchy partner took out my ACL during a Jiu Jitsu training session right before the 4th of July.  Had my operation on 8/11.

I'm 41, and love to run short distances (3 - 10K)...so this has been a scary ordeal for me.
what was really concerning is that around the 1st month mark, my knee would catch so bad; I could not proceed any further.  Somewhere before  45 degrees.

right now i am 1 degree extension and a couple of inches from my heel touching my rear end.
the catching no longer stops the bending motion, but i still feel pressure/resistance...not painful.  But just enough to hinder my ability to walk normally. 

i am able to ride the stationary bike up to 15 minutes without too much discomfort, but do feel some pressure on the elliptical...which I am up to 10 minutes.

I am glad to read the issue has improved for the original poster @ 3 months though! 
At this point, i think i am going to back off the bike/elliptical as I don't want to irritate whatever the problem is...I have been riding/elliptical every day.  may cut it down to 2-3 times a week; and just focus on strengthening the quads.

will report back!

[Juliahood_]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone's had their knee "catch" when trying to go from full extension to 90 degrees. I'm 6 weeks post-op from an ACL repair with a lateral meniscus repair. I have about 0-120 degrees ROM and am walking without crutches. The only problem I have is when I reach about 45 degrees of flexion I feel a bunch of pressure at my knee joint (right in the middle front ) when bending. If I just bend it past that pointslowly, the pressure releases and it's fine.

If it put my hand over the source of the pain, I can feel something releasing forward when the pressure lets go. It's not painful, but there's somthing moving in there when I bendI still have some swelling at the knee area so I'm wondering if this might be a side-effect of the swelling and will go away once the swelling subsides. Might it be loose cartilage or my knee isn't tracking properly?

It only happens if I go from full-extension to a bend. If I start from 5 degrees to a bend, I don't get it. Almost like locking out my knee in full extension is moving something in my knee.

Hey I’ve experienced the same thing! I’ve had three knee surgeries now, ACL meniscus on the right, and ACL meniscus on the left which they later had to go in a repair the meniscus again about a month after the original surgery. Ever since the first  surgery on my left knee I’ve had locking. It used to tighten when I would go from straight extensions to flexion and then if I pushed past that tightness it would suddenly pop loudly with a little  pain but  it’s scary because you don’t know when it’s gonna happen.

To get around that, I would wiggle my knee left or right when I felt it getting tight and it would release. Or I would very slowly bend it and it somehow let it release before it locked and popped. Since the second surgery, they just repaired the meniscus because they saw nothing wrong with the ACL or patella. I experienced the same thing afterwards.

I’m now 6 months post my last surgery the clicking/popping has basically went away but the tightness is still there going from extension to flexion. I now avoid certain movements so that it won’t pop because it only does that once in a blue moon, I just don’t know when it’ll happen. Wiggling my knee around has become so normal I don’t even realize I do it now to avoid the pop. I’ve strengthend my knee a lot and it helped reduce the piping a ton  but hasn’t solved the problem. Physio thinks it could be a tracking problem linked with lack of muscle... or scar tissue. All the tightness and pain is below my knee cap in the front of my knee if that makes sense? My surgeon says to wait it out and my physio says to keep strengthening. Will the tightness ever go away so I don’t have h keep wiggling my knee around it?

[christalynnnadeau]

Any updates on the catching for all of you? This is happening to my son who is 8 weeks post ACL surgery with hamstring graft. He is a 21 year old college athlete and has been diligent with rehab, but the catching is really bothering him.