Anyone get knee tracking problems?

My knee has been crunchy whenever I bend it for a while now, but it hasn't stopped me from doing anything, so I haven't worried about it.

On the weekend I was sitting on an exercise ball rolling back and forth at a friends place, when my knee kind of locked up, then crunched as it "released" again. It was quite uncomfortable, and after that, my kneecap felt really loose and was moving too much as I bent and straightened my leg.

It was fine after that though, and the next day was no longer feeling loose. Just now it happened again - locked up, crunched and released, only this time it felt a wee bit more painful, and is REALLY crunchy.

I'll make an appointment to see an orthopedics person, but they take a while to get into. Has anyone else had this? Is it just a case of strengthening the leg muscles and VMO to help hold the knee?

Not my knees - but my elbows do this. They'll get locked into a position where I can't straighten my arm unless I force them. I have had my elbows swell up on several occasions, though, so I know something is going on.

iirc, didn't you have a knee swell up on a past trip? You're fairly active when you can be, chances are it's taken it's toll on your knees. I hope your orthopedic specialist can help.

What sort of antibiotics have you taken in the past?

Good memory Yes, fairly recently, I was standing all day, and my knee got swollen and sore for days afterwards - same knee.

Call the specialist and book your appointment. It could me something minor and easily fixed. Or it could be a sign of something that will only get worse if not treated.

My problems started when I was in my teens. Looking back I can remember things that seemed to be nothing big at the time. Who knew it was a sign of things to come.

I do I do!! I have all sorts of maltracking problems with my knee cap. My Orthopedic Surgeon always told me that crunchy is fine without the pain. ocrunchy is usually some sort of cartiledge damage. And my knee is nosiy and painful. My knee cap gets stuck and its wearing out the cap. (i'm also very active) My doc and my physical therapist are always stressing the importance of keeping the knee strong via the VMO and quad muscles.

Sadly my knees are really bad...my bones are compeltely misaligned and before my two bone realignments my knee caps would dislocate whenever I walked. now the cap just gets stuck and its wearing out both the cap and the bottom of the femur....sigh.

But your orthopedic doc can help but if you need anything information or just an ear who knows WAY too much about this feel free to PM me. (I've been through 6 operations on my lower joints...2 on the knees 4 on the hips and so many rounds of Physical Therapy the whole staff knows me by name and my car)

Originally Posted by sarahp

Good memory

Yes, fairly recently, I was standing all day, and my knee got swollen and sore for days afterwards - same knee.

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I remember because I'm pretty sure I told you to go get it checked while it was still swollen. You didn't answer about the antibiotics - I know you were on some after the surgery. It's fairly well known that antibiotics like levaquin can cause muscle and cartilage to be weakened. If you were on an antibiotic that has this side effect it could have "aged" your knee more than it should be for your age.

Mine don't really crunch.... but they are off track and painful at times. I was diagnosed with Chondromalacia Patella... which is basically poor alignment with your knee caps which is caused by softening of the cartilage under the knee cap. Unfortunately I have it in BOTH knees. It's very painful especially when i do physical activities. I can't use the treadmill anymore so I have to stick with things that are easier on my knees. Nothing really stops the pain though. It's very frustrating and there isn't much they can do at this stage. I have to strengthen my quads to try to pull my knee caps back on track... it hasn't helped much though. I find sitting for a long period of time aggravates my knees. Sometimes they feel like someone is trying to twist them around backwards! Hopefully yours can be fixed. Good luck!

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I remember because I'm pretty sure I told you to go get it checked while it was still swollen.

You didn't answer about the antibiotics - I know you were on some after the surgery. It's fairly well known that antibiotics like levaquin can cause muscle and cartilage to be weakened. If you were on an antibiotic that has this side effect it could have "aged" your knee more than it should be for your age.

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Oops sorry, didn't see that before! I haven't really been on a lot of antibiotics - just the occasional bout of amoxycillin. Although earlier this year due to a staph infection to my blood stream, I did receive IV antibiotics pretty much 24/7 through a PICC line for 2 weeks. I don't remember what that antibiotic was.

^Ask! And make sure you have good records of all of that in case you ever need them.

It won't heal anything, and some people get no benefit from them while others do, but you could try taking joint supplements (glucosamine chondroitin, msm, and fish oil) to help.

All my records are at the one place for all my health stuff, and it's all online so all my docs have access to it

Can you look, then? I wonder what happens if there were major crashes/natural disaster, or someone really intent on ruining things? Not that I think having records online is a bad thing, just that I've had enough computer problems myself to want hard copies of anything important.

I feel confident that they have a good back up system

look up "runners knee"... I have had it since I was a kid ... yes some simple exercises keep it in check

Chondromalacia/patellofemoral syndrome/runners knee diagnosis confirmed! I was able to get into a PA today, and she was able to confirm the diagnosis.

It popped out for her, and clunked back into place, so that was "good". I'll start physical therapy next week, and have exercises to do and hopefully it will help. My knee is aching now from being pushed around!

My joints are very loose at the best of times, so its not particularly surprising I guess!