“My knees click when I straighten them?”
I am a dancer and when I straighten my legs, my knees often click at the top/front of my knee cap, and it can be painful. It makes it hard to straighten my legs and is really interfering with my dancing. My knees have also started clicking/snapping when walking but it most usually clicks every time I straighten my leg fully. What is going on? What should I do?
Female | 17 years old
2 Answers
OrthopedicsOrthopedics
Without going through a complete evaluation and examination, all I can do is give you an educated guess. It sounds like your knee cap is clicking over the femoral condyles, possibly due to a weak VMO. Seek a local PT for consultation
Hello. Clicking if the knee is common and not an issue except when you are starting to have pain. In dancers this is a fairly common problem. Some is a result of the generalized laxity (flexibility) that dancers have. This is genetic and cannot be changed. The other issue is muscle imbalance. The lateral (outside) leg and hip muscles are stronger then the inner and this causes the knee cap to track abnormally. If you continue to have clicking and pain I would recommend you see an Orthopedic surgeon who after exam likely will refer you to a physiotherapist that can evaluate you and recommend a good strengthening program to rebalance the muscle strength. Good luck.
