Ectomorph Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 When i do one legged squats with my right leg, everything is find, but when I do them with my left leg, on the way back up, the cartilage or something in my kneecap cracks and makes an awful sounding noise. It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't sound good. Anyone able to help me with this problem or tell me what I can do about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yeesh! I'm not going to give medical advice on this forum, but the SLS can put a lot of strain on the knee joint, especially if the form is sloppy. It is common to put the bodyweight too far forward to make the movement easier,but this increases strain on the knee.It is also a common problem among the general populace to have a muscle imbalance between the VMO and the quadriceps, this can cause patella tracking problems, where the kneecap is being pulled to one side of or even out of the natural cartilage groove in which it is meant to track. Over time, this can tear or wear away the cartilage (Avid skiier here, I speak from experience). Again, this patella tracking is not usually painful, but will get worse over time.I cannot diagnose you, but I suggest that you find a good physiotherapist and get diagnosis and corrective advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCem222 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Its interesting, this started happening to me around 6 months ago almost out of nowhere. Every time I squat down, at around 110 degrees, my left knee cracks. It something does a little countermovement on the way up as well (another tinier crack that only happens if the first one happens). I went to my GP and he said it was fine, and that I should stengthen my quads. He didn't seem very knowledgeable, so I still kept the problem in the back of my mind but I'm also not overly worried. Id love to put a stop to the cracking. Interestingly, it usually only happens in regular squats, not SLS. Anyway, good luck getting your knees to stop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerald Mangona Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 When i do one legged squats with my right leg, everything is find, but when I do them with my left leg, on the way back up, the cartilage or something in my kneecap cracks and makes an awful sounding noise. It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't sound good. Anyone able to help me with this problem or tell me what I can do about it?This isn't in the book, but something I've found. Prerequisite for doing SLS *safely* is to be able to hold just above the bottom of the SLS in position for 60s. If you can't do that, the connective tissue might not be strong enough to do an SLS. Another way to know is to see if you can do an SLS slowly, with no momentum.Right now I'm working on an FSP with the bottom of the SLS (just above the bottom), and then wall sits with my butt just below my hips. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ectomorph Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Should I go get an MRI or something to find out what the real problem is? This has been going on for a while, I can do about 6 one legged squats(ass to floor) in a row, but only the left leg makes the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 An MRI is probably unnecessary at this stage, and may not show anything of note given that it will only catch your leg in one position (I doubt you can squat in an MRI machine!) In my experience most General Practioners don't know a heck of a lot about joints. Sports med physicians are better, but usually only if it is causing pain. Physiotherapists are movement specialists, and should be able to determine if you are suffering from any muscle imbalances, or other connective tissue problems, and prescribe specific exercises to support or correct the knee joint. A good physio should also be able to instruct you on how to tape the knee if required to provide additional support while your strength improves. If this doesn't help, or it starts causing pain, then I would see a sports medicine physician and they will probably recommend an MRI.For the record, I am too weak to do single leg squats at the moment, do I am doing single leg step up / step downs on to a large box at my side to build up to the full movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexX Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 If you can do six sls squats it is doubtful that your vmo is the problem like primate suggested.Here are some common problem:- Have you tried playing around with foot and knee position? Remember the knee should track the toes meaning it should bend in the same direction as the toes. - How is your hip mobility? tight hips can cause all kinds of problems at the knee.- Have you checked your IT band for tightness? a tight IT band can pull on the knee and cause it to pop in certain positions.- How is your technique? are you pushing back with your hips to do the squat or just squatting down, the further ahead your knee is the more strain is placed onto it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ectomorph Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Well the knee only does the cracking right before my leg is fully compressed i guess you could say, and then on the ay back up from that position is when it does the most cracking. Im pretty flexible so I dont think it's a problem with hip mobility. How can I check my IT band for tightness? I'll try to switch my technique a bit to put my knee less forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Naterman Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Yeesh! I'm not going to give medical advice on this forum, but the SLS can put a lot of strain on the knee joint, especially if the form is sloppy. It is common to put the bodyweight too far forward to make the movement easier,but this increases strain on the knee.It is also a common problem among the general populace to have a muscle imbalance between the VMO and the quadriceps, this can cause patella tracking problems, where the kneecap is being pulled to one side of or even out of the natural cartilage groove in which it is meant to track. Over time, this can tear or wear away the cartilage (Avid skiier here, I speak from experience). Again, this patella tracking is not usually painful, but will get worse over time.I cannot diagnose you, but I suggest that you find a good physiotherapist and get diagnosis and corrective advice.In addition to this possibility, it is very possible that you have limited hip mobility and/or activation in the external rotators and abductors. It is also possible that your ankles are not as mobile as they should be during SLS, but there's no way to know without video. Is there any way you can take two videos, one from the front and one from the side? If you could also take a 45 degree angle on each side that would be ideal, but front and each side should be enough. If you do that we can probably be much more helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ectomorph Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Okay, I took some videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBi73Gne-fQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5L69pns_PQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ExvzVUqzOo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Naterman Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 That's what I expected to see, your hips are not straight with regard to the knee. If you straighten out your hips without changing the foot position, you would notice that your foot is pointing to the left by 20-30 degrees. No wonder you are having some issues! This is only obvious in the front video, but if you look you will see what I mean. Your right hip is much further back than your left hip. I can not tell if you are tilted or not, but you are definitely rotated.If you have elastic handy, and you could get a cheapo band from walmart or target if you need to OR use a bag of rubber bands strung together into a few rings for resistance at the knees. Having a band around the knees during bodyweight double leg squats is an easy way to force activation of deep hip musculature that is not being properly activated. Anything that can provide elastic tension will work. This forces you to actively keep your knees over your toes during the squat and will probably make you pretty sore at first on the outside of the hips. You should notice that your SLS form improves fairly quickly.You my also have crappy ankle mobility under load since your weight shifts to the outside of the foot, but personally I believe that is happening because of the hip angle you have. Correct the hips and I think you will fix your problem.You will also benefit from implementing a basic squat matrix into your warm up. At first this is just front split squat and lateral split squat to each side, for just a few reps. You don't need tons of volume here, this is just warm up. THe trick is to keep your hips neutral (no tilting and no lower back curvature, totally level pelvis. This position forces the femur to move quite a lot more in the hips than you are currently used to and this restoration of motion will led to better form and better strength gains, and in the process will dramatically decrease your risk of injury. Pretty sweet, if you ask me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ectomorph Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Ok so you mean I should come forward a bit with my right hip? I could get some bands for sure but I dont understand exactly how to use them for this if you could explain that a bit more. By the way thanks for all your help it means alot. Ill defenitly implement a basic squat matric into my warm ups too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Naterman Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 That's kind of hard to explain just with words, but sort of yes. You want your hips to be in the exact same position as if you were standing up on both feet. If your posture is off just in general that may be a bit hard to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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