Lately both of my knees emit cracking-rubbing noise when I squat up and down (without any weight) and especially the right one feels a bit tight. Perhaps it’s because of the running that I do (beginner runner) or maybe not. Just to be sure I’m thinking about wrapping them up when I train to increase the surrounding temperature. Is this a good idea? What kind of knee wraps that you recommend?
Thanks!
So I just cut a pair of thickish old socks and wear it as knee wraps. Tomorrow I’ll see if it’s any good.
I don’t really do olympic lifting and train more for development, but my left knee will do the same if I start deep front squatting first. What I have found for me that makes deep front squatting smooth and almost effortless is either to foam roll my legs before squatting(which I don’t do that much) or go do a few sets of leg extensions squeezing the quad especially the vastus medialis as hard as possible. I have found bilateral leg extensions done one leg at a time allow me to squeeze the problem leg even harder than doing it with both legs at a time.
But I would try to assess what would work for you whether it is insufficient ankle or hip mobility, weak hamstrings or whether you have an inhibited VM which helps in traction of your knee cap.
"JoabSonOfZeruiah wrote:
But I would try to assess what would work for you whether it is insufficient ankle or hip mobility, weak hamstrings or whether you have an inhibited VM which helps in traction of your knee cap."
How do you asses each of these points?
does it hurt when it pops, or in general?
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
does it hurt when it pops, or in general? [/quote]
My left knee has been popping for a long a time and it kinda bothers me but my right knee only recently. Both don’t hurt but I can feel the tension when squatting on the right knee.
I think they perform better when warm because in training they seem okay, or I’m too busy paying attention to other things.
[quote]Paperclip wrote:
"JoabSonOfZeruiah wrote:
But I would try to assess what would work for you whether it is insufficient ankle or hip mobility, weak hamstrings or whether you have an inhibited VM which helps in traction of your knee cap."
How do you asses each of these points?[/quote]
Well I am not as well versed as some of the guys on the injury forum but I would take a look at your posture and see whether you have APT, PPT, neutral spine, thoracic spine neutral or kypotic, to check mobility for ankle, thoracic spine, hips etc… you have to test it and there are plenty of Eric Cressy and Mike Robertson articles on here that deal with this.
For example I have PPT yet my friend has APT, I do leg extensions to warm up for the squat while he does leg curls.
I just got back from training and the makeshift knee wraps (socks) worked decently, I just had to adjust them several times because they’re creeping down.
[quote]JoabSonOfZeruiah wrote:
Well I am not as well versed as some of the guys on the injury forum but I would take a look at your posture and see whether you have APT, PPT, neutral spine, thoracic spine neutral or kypotic, to check mobility for ankle, thoracic spine, hips etc… you have to test it and there are plenty of Eric Cressy and Mike Robertson articles on here that deal with this.
For example I have PPT yet my friend has APT, I do leg extensions to warm up for the squat while he does leg curls.[/quote]
Thanks Joab. I think I have slight APT and have been correcting it for some time. When I made my hip to be more neutral (tilt it forward) my feet were more parallel but my knees are somewhat uncomfortable (maybe they weren’t used to it yet). Now it’s somewhat better. When I run I make sure that my feet are parallel.
Usually the popping doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t hurt. You should ALWAYS warm up decently and stretch before and after workouts IMO. I’ve also found that training squats every day (obviously if you were doing 5 sets of 5 for 85% , you won’t be doing that every single day), or just something with legs, makes popping sounds go away eventually. My knees feel the pressure too sometimes. But it feels a lot like the pressure that muscles feel when under stress, rather than pain so I don’t think its a problem.
Yeah I’ve also heard that popping w/o pain = ok, but it just bothers me… Generally the popping is lessened when the joints are warm, but I know that there’s at least some problem because when it’s cold the tension I feel when bending the knees is higher. BTW I have tendinosis on my fingers because of wall/rock climbing. One day I ran in the morning (cold) and found that my fingers suddenly became very stiff. I hope the same won’t happen to my precious knees!
As for warming up/stretching I always do them. Now starting to do those knees (and shoulders) (p)rehab exercises that I found on the net.