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Clapping joints

fdelval

fdelval

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Hey there again.


I have a problem with my joints, specially knees and left elbow.
They sound like "crack"

-They never sound during workout (except the elbow one), and they only make that nasty sound before the warming and during daily life.


-The elbow sounds like crackcrackcrack during the contraction phase of the movement in dumbell curls, and any triceps exercice for the long head of the muscle.

I got an X-RAY done and showed nothing.

I feel somewhat like the elbow its gonna get jammed and cant flex it having the palm upwards, but it never happens... maybe its psicological?
Another elbow symptom is that i cant stop stretching it, i feel the area better after stretching it, and if i dont do it, i feel a light soreness in the area..


what can it be??
thanks for the info and i hope i ll get more active here
 
tim290280

tim290280

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It is mainly from cartilage rubbing in the joint, sometimes it is from not having enough synovial fluid in the joint, sometimes it is from too much tension in the ligaments of the joint or excessive loading at the joint.

When I first started training I used to get clicking in most of my joints. As I got stronger most of the clicking disappeared. Under bodyweight exercises you don't want to have too much clicking as it is a sign that you are wearing out the joints. The only things that click for me now are my knees during squats and that is due to my knee reconstruction (didn't happen prior and has been getting less noticable with recovery time).

I'd recommend you take plenty of fish oil and glucosamine. I'd also recommend a good warmup that gets everything warmed up and flexible (traditional warmups suck at this). I'd also recommend avoiding some of the poorer exercises for joints (skull crushers, press/pulldown/pullup behind the neck, anything in a smith machine, a lot of machines, etc) as you are more likely to have issues longer term with them.
 
philosopher

philosopher

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Tim maybe you can explain this?

Since I bumped my knee into the SQ rack it cracks far more than before. With every flexion/extension I make it cracks. The patella had thickenen a bit on the top which wont go away for the last 6 months now. Pain is ok during normal things in life but squatting, sprinting or running op the stairs still hurt. Any idea?
 
tim290280

tim290280

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^^ Could be any number of things. You could have slight swelling in the knee (takes a long time for swelling to go down in the knee) and continuing to use the knee keeps the swelling up slightly. You could have caused a calcified growth. You could have strained a ligament or caused an osification in the ligament that is affecting things.

Best bet would be to see a sports MD and say that it hurts even since the incident and that you're concerned you've done some damage. They might be able to ultrasound or MRI the knee to rule out some things.
 
Johnny5

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Well, I get that a lot on both my ankles. When I walk both my ankles crack. My shoulders too, they crack like crazy, but that doesn't stop me from lifting heavy. As long as they're comfortable and warmed up and tight, I'm good to go!
 
philosopher

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^^ Could be any number of things. You could have slight swelling in the knee (takes a long time for swelling to go down in the knee) and continuing to use the knee keeps the swelling up slightly. You could have caused a calcified growth. You could have strained a ligament or caused an osification in the ligament that is affecting things.

Best bet would be to see a sports MD and say that it hurts even since the incident and that you're concerned you've done some damage. They might be able to ultrasound or MRI the knee to rule out some things.

Damn what a small accident can do to your body :shakefist:. I think it might be a bursitis of the patellaris which left some scartissue because of the bleeding duing the impact. Which pretty much sucks. I made an appointment with the doc last week so 9th of Dec I hope to get some info and a MRI.
 
philosopher

philosopher

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Well, I get that a lot on both my ankles. When I walk both my ankles crack. My shoulders too, they crack like crazy, but that doesn't stop me from lifting heavy. As long as they're comfortable and warmed up and tight, I'm good to go!

There doesnt have to be something wrong with the cracking. For some its just perfectly normal.
 
fdelval

fdelval

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Hi guys

Im taking it easy:
1 week off from training
taking 2 fish oil pills daily
and taking glucosamine sulfate (sorry for bad spelling)

so far its going good, no soreness, no jamming sensation, even less claping..

another 2 points i forgot to mention were:

-clapping started after a period of maybe-too-extreme fascia stretching. Thats when i got my x-ray taken and the medic told me to take glucosamine (the same im taking actualy) which never really helped.

Next week i could start with light weight high repetitions with any kind of elastic weights? or back to normality?

thanks for the dedication.
 
tim290280

tim290280

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Drop the fascia stretching.

I've never been a fan of the "extreme" stretching and the problems it can cause for joints.

No need to go crazy with changes to your program. Just make sure you include some finishing exercises at the end of a workout that are for reps >15 for each body part done for the day.
 

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