Will my knee ever stop clicking by doing stretches/exercises?

[kev269]

Hi Everyone,

I am a 30 year old male. A few years ago, I was in the gym and was kneeling down when I picked up heavy dumbbells in my hand and lifted my body up using my legs. As soon as I did this, my quadriceps muscle above my right knee area became stiff and this lasted for a couple of days. I only felt the stiffness when I was kneeling down. I had no swelling or any problems with any activity, so I thought I had pulled a muscle. The stiffness then disappeared, but I realised that there was some pain on both sides of the knee above the kneecap. When I contracted the muscle, then I could feel the pain go away and then come back after. When I say pain, it has always been more of a discomfort than pain compared to what other people have been experiencing. I have always been able to walk, run, bend my knees without any major problem other than feeling some discomfort around the knee. However, my issue is that ever since I've had this problem, the knee cap keeps making a clicking sound or in fact a two click sound as soon as I bend my knee past a certain point, for example, it always clicks as I go up each stair on the staircase. Only when I start to bend my legs constantly does my knee pain start to come back or when I am sitting down, so I tend to jog up the stairs rather than walk up it to avoid hearing the clicking sounds.

The other thing I would like to mention is that the same thing started in my left knee as well about a year later. However, this happened naturally without doing any major activity with my knee. I was not even going to the gym at the time. However, this knee is not as bad as my right knee and I hardly feel any pain in my left knee since I started doing my knee exercises, but there is still that constant soft high pitched clicking sound as I go up each stair as though the knee is not tracking properly.

I have been doing exercises for several weeks now to strengthen the leg muscles, such as IT band stretches and stretches for the quadriceps etc. but my real aim is to stop my knees from clicking as this is what is bringing the pain back. The pain around the knee has improved a lot since I started doing the exercises, but I wondered whether doing the exercises can really stop the knee from clicking and get my knees tracking again, or do I need physiotherapy or surgery?

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my question,

[vickster]

Go get assessed by a sports Physio, clicking is not unusual and if without pain, certainly wouldn't be a cause for surgery

[kev269]

Go get assessed by a sports Physio, clicking is not unusual and if without pain, certainly wouldn't be a cause for surgery

Thanks for your reply. I would say it is unusual for my left knee to be clicking, but not for my right knee because soon after I lifted those dumbbells and the quads went stiff this problem started, so that must have been the cause of it.

I do have pain with the clicking, but since I started doing exercises the pain is a lot less, although if I stop doing the exercises and start activity again the pain will probably come back. Perhaps I need to continue doing the exercises until the clicking disappears.

[vickster]

Go get a proper diagnosis from a sports Physio, you don't want to make it worse by doing the wrong exercises
What country are you in?

[kev269]

I'm in London, UK

[vickster]

Loads of execellent sports physios around London, including those with expertise in patellofemoral issues (although if self paying, those will cost around £200 rather than £50-70 for a more general sports Physio)

I'm in SW London, there's an excellent practice in Wimbledon plus an expert there too

Have you tried deep tissue sports massage to loosen things up if it's a muscle tightness issue?  although better to see a physio first to confirm there's no meniscus tear or similar