Tendons clicking and popping in several areas--do I stop training?

[ixae]

Hey everyone, I'm a beginner and new to the forum and since day one of training I've experienced tendons clicking when I lift. It even happened the first day with my trainer, so I know my form wasn't wrong. Locations and exercises are:

- Back of left knee during leg curl
- Right forearm during assisted dips + bicep curls
- Outside of left ankle during squats

Probably a few more I'm blanking on. This also just frequently happens in my daily life even when lifting light things, so I'm certain I'm not using too much weight. I also have no previous injuries that would be causing this.

It doesn't hurt, just feel creepy and disturbing. After reading I'm concerned I need to stop lifting. People say to take a break, but this has *always* happened for me so I'd be surprised if I had tendinitis EVERYWHERE. I've also recently had bloodwork done and they found no inflammation, so I'm not sure if that rules out tendinitis.

Is there anything I can do other than stopping my training? Would using a roller help? I don't want to quit, I just started!

[LunaLifts]

Are you sure it's your tendons, and not your joints? Joints popping is one thing, but tendons connect your muscle to your bones, and that seems like it'd feel more than just disturbing if it popped. You might just be tight in those areas, and may benefit from making stretching a habit. A physical therapist may be able to point out the best ways to stretch those out, and possibly confirm that that is the issue.

[ixae]

Are you sure it's your tendons, and not your joints? Joints popping is one thing, but tendons connect your muscle to your bones, and that seems like it'd feel more than just disturbing if it popped. You might just be tight in those areas, and may benefit from making stretching a habit. A physical therapist may be able to point out the best ways to stretch those out, and possibly confirm that that is the issue.

I'm 95% sure. My joints also pop often so I know what that feels like. Maybe popping is the wrong word? I can just feel them moving around in a way that doesn't seem right. It's uncomfortable but I can't say it's painful.

[likeafish]

I had this in my hip (it is tendons sliding improperly), saw a physical therapist who gave me 2 really simple therapy exercises and it very quickly stopped and hasn't happened since. Get it checked, might be a simple solution for you too.

[LunaLifts]

(it is tendons sliding improperly)

Ah, ok, that sounds a lot better. Popping tendons sounded like a full blown injury, lol.

[ixae]

I had this in my hip (it is tendons sliding improperly), saw a physical therapist who gave me 2 really simple therapy exercises and it very quickly stopped and hasn't happened since. Get it checked, might be a simple solution for you too.

Yes! That sounds exactly right. I spoke to my trainer and she told me try a roller and that it sounds like I'm probably just hyperflexible (which I am, it's annoying), so I'm just gonna warm up more and keep an eye on it.

[schnauzers]

I have this issue too. To the point where I've seen several physiotherapists and a sports med dr about it more than once. Because the intense snapping freaks me out and I was SO worried that something would snap. I'm hyper flexible too.

My experience has been that some of the snapping stopped and some doesn't but I just worry about it less now. For example, I can vividly remember coming back from a layoff over a year ago and being so concerned that the tendon on the back/outside of nene would snap SO hard during single leg press and hip thrusts. Like, to the point you could almost see my leg move because it snapped so much. I very slowly increased ROM and weight over time and now it rarely happens with either of those exercises. My physiotherapist opined that perhaps my joint needed to slowly get used to working in certain ways again and get used to increasing loads.

I still get the hamstring tendon one and I have one in my elbow too that you can almost hear across the room lol...not the joint but the actual tendon.

All that to say, get it assessed and slowly work with it and it just might improve I can totally sympathize with you, 100%. I lost sleep over it, and I recommend that you try not to!