Our bodies communicate with us in many different ways. Typically, we pay attention to them more when we think something is wrong. Like when your stomach hurts, your muscles are sore, your joints are stiff, you have a headache, etc. Even ‘normal’ things you feel and sounds you have noticed daily for years might be something to look into and not just the feelings or sounds that don’t happen often. If one of the sounds you hear often is your knees sharing a little crunch or crack, and being vocal, we have some tips to share as to why they crunch and how you can help them.
Your knees could be crunching because of these two common things: air and tendons.
Crunching noises are a common noise caused by air bubbles releasing. This happens more and more as we age because due to the collagen that surrounds these areas starts to wear away. Additionally, tendons could be the cause. Tendons are like elastic bands and stretch over our joints, so a common cause of crunching or cracking around a joint is due to tendons running over the bone or moving (or snapping) back into their original position. The tighter they are the noisier they are when they move and quickly snap back in place.
The good news is that these noises aren’t a serious problem (unless pain comes with them too). What you can to help your body and crunching is to stretch. The looser these joints can be the quieter they can become. The best place to start is to stretch the muscles that surround the noisy area. For instance, if you have noisy knees then you should be stretching the quad, the hamstring, shins and calves. Taking a collagen supplement might be beneficial too.
Crunchy Knee Stretches to Try
- Figure 4 stretches
- Calf raises
- Standing straddle
- Bent over figure 4
- From standing, pulling your foot towards your behind
- Point and flex your feet
- From standing, pull your knee up towards your chest
- Straddle forward fold and leaning to each side
To really get the benefits from stretching, it is best to hold each position for 2-3 minutes. This way you can allow your body to fully relax and reep the benefits.
You can also get stretched by professional too. They can stretch your body for you or monitor to make sure you are stretching properly to then do on your own at home.
