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Whenever I do a deep squat (even unweighted), my right knee makes a distinct grinding sound on the way up. This does not happen when I only go to parallel. I read somewhere that "ass-to-grass" squats are better for the knees. I've been going to parallel for the past year. Should I switch to ATG style despite the grinding sound? I want to do whatever is best for my knees.
well what kind of grinding sound would u relate this to?
It's just a series of "dull" cracks. It's not painful, at least yet.
I get the same thing also. And sometimes when I lay down and move my leg up and down it makes loud grinding sounds. I dont know whats wrong with it though.
My knees also crack when I squat, even without weight. A quick warm up remedies the situation very easily though. I always warm up with two easy sets of ten before I hit my workout sets. On the warm ups, don't go to failure, you're just tryin to lube up the joints. I also find that if I do cardio in the morning, my legs stay warm, and don't crack when I squat later in the day.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by The Unforsaken [/i]
[B]It's just a series of "dull" cracks. It's not painful, at least yet. [/B][/QUOTE]
Now, this sounds like a common case of patella mal-tracking syndrome, whereby the patella (kneecap) does not follow its proper track in the grrove in the femur (thigh bone) when the knee bends.
Mostly, it tracks a little laterally (to the outside), and the underside of the patella rubs against the groove, causing the grinding noise.
Simple causes are tight quads, tight ITB, tigh calves and/or tight hamstrings. The problem can also be caused by feet that over pronate (roll inwards too much or flat feet), or by having your feet pointed out too far when squatting.
Remedies include:
- more stretching of lower limb muscles
- correct foot placement
- more supportive footwear or arch supports
or all of the above.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Fresch [/i]
[B]Now, this sounds like a common case of patella mal-tracking syndrome, whereby the patella (kneecap) does not follow its proper track in the grrove in the femur (thigh bone) when the knee bends.
Mostly, it tracks a little laterally (to the outside), and the underside of the patella rubs against the groove, causing the grinding noise.
Simple causes are tight quads, tight ITB, tigh calves and/or tight hamstrings. The problem can also be caused by feet that over pronate (roll inwards too much or flat feet), or by having your feet pointed out too far when squatting.
Remedies include:
- more stretching of lower limb muscles
- correct foot placement
- more supportive footwear or arch supports
or all of the above. [/B][/QUOTE]
I think you are right on with this one. I too have the slight cracking in only one knee, and it is due to the knee cap shifting ove a bit. If I extend my leg I get a tracking sound, but if I stabilize my knee cap by holding it in place and extend my leg it works fine, without the crack. Like others have said its not painful etc....
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Fresch [/i]
[B]
Mostly, it tracks a little laterally (to the outside), and the underside of the patella rubs against the groove, causing the grinding noise.
[/B][/QUOTE]
This is usually caused by what you said as well as a stronger vastus lateralis then the vastus medialis.
I have this problem as well. Strengthen the vastus medialis by doing the last 30 degrees in a knee extensions. It has been shown that the vastus medialis works more in the last 30 degrees.
I have stopped doing leg extensions alltogether since I heard it was bad for the knees. Should I resume and only do the last 30 degrees? What about deep squats vs. parallel squats? What would be best?
You've heard it's bad for your knees? Where did you hear this from? It is used in a lot of rehabilitation places. Fresch would know.
Leg extension machines are not good for people with this problem as they do tend to work the lateral quads preferentially.
Really? My professor John Griffin has his MSc in exercise physiology and writes books on client centered Exercise Perscription for Human Kinetics written over 40 publications and given more than 50 presentations and has received awards from Canada, and Australia and he is on the board of directors at Ontario Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences. Anyways he told us that the vastus medialis is the most involved in the last 30 degrees of knee extension and that we should perscribe it to people with patellar mal-tracking. I mean he could be wrong, but I'm curious where you got your info from.
There are lots of sources. Perhaps you should try and acquaint yourself with the work of Jenny McConnell, who specialises in the area and the taping/exercise regime used to treat the problem.
The basic problem is that knee-extensions are an open kinetic chain exercise, whereas to retrain the VMO, you need to work with closed kinetic chain exercises. This is due to the stability properties of the VMO, which do not get stimulated in open kinetic chain exercises sucj as knee extensions.
Don't worry, most of the world is 10years behind Australia on this one.
PS..Don't be impressed by a person's CV...still always critically examine their views.
PPS.. When it comes to rehab exercises, USA/Canada is actually a generation behind many other countries.