When you suffer a clicking knee during kickboxing, you could be experiencing one of several different knee conditions. The high intensity kicks, jumps and impacts that are part of the sport can lead to chronic conditions and serious injury. Consider your clicking knee a message that something inside your knee joint needs to be checked out.
Take Action
When you hear a clicking in your knee from kickboxing, don't let it go untreated. See a doctor as soon as possible. Make an appointment with a knee specialist called an orthopaedic surgeon. In the meantime, if your clicking knee is causing pain, swelling or stiffness, try to reduce it with rest, ice, compression and elevation. Wrap your knee in a brace or bandage, elevate it and ice it for 20 minutes at a time.
Torn Meniscus
Once you get to the doctor, several diagnoses are likely. One possible condition you are suffering if you have a clicking knee with kickboxing is a torn meniscus. You have two menisci in your knee. They are cushions between your thigh bone and your shin bone. You can tear one suddenly by twisting too fast or by taking a direct blow to the knee, such as the impacts you experience in kickboxing. While you may be capable of kickboxing with a torn meniscus, it may hurt and feel like your knee is about to give out. Some tears in the meniscus can heal with rest and physical therapy. Others must be surgically repaired or removed.
Osteorthritis
Another potential diagnosis for a clicking knee with kickboxing is osteoarthritis. This is when the cartilage in the knee wears away from use. Without cartilage to pad your bones, they may grind together causing a crunching or clicking noise each time you execute a high kick or squat. Osteoarthritis may leave your knee stiff and painful. The beginning of osteoarthritis, when the cartilage is starting to thin, may cause a clicking sound without pain. Treatment ranges from physical therapy and medication to the extreme of a joint replacement.
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
Patellofemoral pain syndrome is another potential cause of your clicking knee in kickboxing. The sound may result with this condition if your knee cap, or patella, is not tracking the right way on the groove because it slides along in your thigh bone. The maltracking may be forcing your femur into the underside of your knee cap with every kick and flex of your knee, so if there is pain it will feel like it is coming from behind your knee. Treatment is usually physical therapy to strengthen the muscles that support the knee. Surgery is rare.
Posted in: Kickboxing