I have a crunchy left knee, but it’s a different situation (and a long story). What I WILL say is this: don’t take Glucosamine/Chondroitin, which is what is often recommended. It will promote weight gain. (Can’t remember exactly how…spiking insulin like a carb, maybe??) I found this out recently from the doctor who runs our weight-loss program and was relieved that I’d procrastinated on buying it for 10 years.

Crunchy knees are pretty common, and your doctor’s right – as long as it’s not painful, you’re OK. If it’s bugging you, Omega-3 supplements and/or Glucosamine Chondroitin (i.e., “joint juice”) might help. If you go the GC route and start noticing stiffness in your joints, though, it means you need to cut back on it.

I’ve had crunchy knees since I was in high school. I have never found anything to make them soggy (less crunchy) though and got the same “extra cartilage” statement from two different doctors.

Oh and gum at 10pm? The question made me laugh out loud!

I LOVE that manicure!

My husband and I both found JBs gum conundrum to be funny. And I like your nails :)

Ive had crunchy knees since I was little. My mom had them too. Her rheumatologist told me that the kneecap is slightly misaligned and that it is often genetic an no biggie. Congrats on the mystery smell diagnosis and the goth tips (love that!).

I have crunchy knee too, & I didn’t know it was such a common ailment. I tried some Omega-3 supplements for a time but didn’t see any real improvement. Love the nails! Making me consider something wacky for my own manicure tomorrow.

I have crunchy knee just once, then it goes away. But I have crunchy shoulder and hip. SO annoying. I hate doing anything that makes them pop. Doesn’t hurt just so so dang annoying.

I don’t have an answer for you, but I do have crunchy knee. Always have. Really loud. It’s super embarrassing to sound like an 80 year old at fifteen. I guess my only solace is, as I get older, people appear less weirded out by it. I’m interested in the comments here to see if anyone has any help.

The manicure looks great! Can’t believe how nice the tips look. Good job

I’ve got crunchy knees, too. It sounds like I’m walking on peanut shells when I walk down a flight of stairs.

I also have crunchy knees. No solution to that one!

As for eating before CF, I’ve definitely found a small snack works best. My go to pre WOD meal when I was CF’ing was three bites of greek yogurt, no kidding. Maybe three macadamia nuts if I was feeling spunky.

I started having crackly knees when my oldest kid was about 1 year. I realized I was carrying this heavy ass kid up and down flights of stairs day in and day out. And I had that damn crackly sound on every step every day! I got pregnant and gained 50 pounds and the crackles got worse. Then, I started working out after second kid. And then it WENT AWAY. I was just doing elliptical and weights. But now…it’s back after I started carrying my heavy 2 year old up and down stairs. WTF?!!??!?????

I’m hoping once he can walk his own ass up and down that I’ll get rid of the crackles. Because they really did disappear for a while. I don’t know. That wasn’t helpful. Sorry. But it makes me feel better to know so many people have the same problem. I just have a hard time believing it is totally harmless. How can that be??

At first I was like…..Oh…GUM (wink wink)…that’s what he calls it… (*ahem*) and then I realized…oh. he really did mean a stick of gum.

I need to get my mind OUT of the gutter!

Crunchy knee is creptius. It’s a creepy name for a creepy thing. I had an osteopath tell me repetitive non-weight bearing motion is the way to go. Lie on your back with your legs in the air and bend your knee to 90 degrees, straighten over and over. I never really got past about the 2nd day because it bored me to tears, so I have no idea if it works.

We went to bed at 11:15 on New Years Eve. To sleep, not the other thing. There is NO WAY you are lamer than that.

Y’all need a new liberator pillow or somesuch. Late night gum conundrum (nicely put, Anonymous), now really! ;)

I’ve used just Glucosamine (no Chondroitin) for a bit of crunchy knee and it never caused me to gain weight. It did seem to help the crunch and mild achy knees.

I love your manicure and I have 2 Crunchy Knees (have since high school). They don’t hurt so I’m not worried about it thought.

LOVE the black tip manicure, never seen one! Also, I am a 37 yr old married mom & this post had me laughing out loud, since my thrills are all about manicures & Trident as well…thrilling.

21 year old here with the fabled Crunchy Knee! Maybe we could all start a club. Love the manicure PS

Yes crunchy knees. Plural. I blame genetics.

I’m too excited to actually have an answer to something to read the comments and figure out if other people are smarter than me! Glucosamine FTW! Rebuilds all that lovely lubricating cartilage crap in your knees, not only increasing flexibility but reducing the snap crackle crunch usually only familiar to the crypt keeper. Yay!

I don’t have crunchy knees but I have a crunchy shoulder. I think from years of computer geeking and working in a research lab (lots of repetitive pipetting) (dirty!)

The black tipped nails ROCK. Sometimes you have to throw practicality into the wind.

Yes! Crunchy knee! My right knee can wake up the entire family when walking down the stairs in the morning. My trainer told me it’s oxygen making its way through the cartilage or something. Bizarro. And LOUD.

I have crunchy knees. I have always assumed that most people do!

I have a crunchy knee (well, knees)! It’s so loud, it concerns people. I’m all, BUT IT DOESN’T HURT and they’re all, BUT IT’S DISGUSTING.

I’m so glad I’m not the only one.

Just about every joint I have crunches on occasion and I’ve never found anything that stops them (though I haven’t looked particularly hard, either, as it doesn’t bother me in the slightest)…
Love the nails!
And if that’s what WILD is for you guys, wait till you’re in your early 40s – my WILD involves watching two episodes of Glee in a row and drinking tea before bed…

Read Mighty Girl’s (Maggie Mason)recent post about health, supplements, etc. She talks about knees, joints, etc. I think it was posted Wednesday, maybe Tuesday.

Love hearing about Crossfit! I’m chicken.

I have had crunchy knees for years. I can’t stand it, they gross me out. My Dr. said the same thing. I don’t take anything or do anything for it. Once in awhile they hurt a little, 30 DS killed my knees. Mine only do it when I bend down and stand back up but I had a friend who’s knees do it when she is sitting down and bends them.

I have crunchy knees, too! My family and I call them Barbie knees, because it sounds like when you bend a Barbie’s knees!! But, I’ve never really done anything to help them and usually they don’t hurt, so I try not to worry about them. I only hope that I never have to be in a situation where I need to be sneaky and quiet because I would FAIL.

I have crunchy knee too – have had since I was probably 20 years old (which is like, damn, almost 20 years AGO!). And like you, it doesn;t hurt me, but it does sometimes cause a weakness where I think for a split second that my leg may not support my body weight. This used to be particularly true when going up stairs. My doctor told me that my kneecap was misaligned and therefore the cartilage was scraping … he said the best way to deal with it was to strengthen the quads and inner thigh muscles to pull it back into alignment. Well ever since I started working out on a daily basis (five or six years now) the weakness has disappeared, but the noise remains. Putting my hand on my knee while bending it back and forth, I can FEEL all the little crunches!! I also always wear a knee support at the gym – one of those band type ones that goes tightly around the base of your kneecap – it really helps. I have ones from both Mueller and McDavid and they are great.

:)

Yeah I’m going to have to second that Glucosamine works for knees (I also run) and I have been losing weight. Maybe only certain people have the weight gain problem with it?

I have crunchy knees too – I inherited them from my dad. My dad told me and later my doctor told me – if they don’t hurt it’s OK. I remember always being able to tell when my dad was walking down the hall to get me from the church KID room, because I would hear his knees clicking!

I guess I’ll hop on the Glucosamine recommendation, too. Just read this interesting post, which addresses some supplement benefits: http://mightygirl.com/2011/01/12/getting-my-health-in-order-part-v-diet-and-supplements/

I have the crunchy knees, too. They’ve been that way for as long as I can remember. They started hurting a little sometimes within the past few years. My doctor said it was an alignment issue, like some others have mentioned.

When I started CrossFit and primal in September, I had super crunchy knees. They’re now almost noiseless. Diet, maybe? Primal/paleo, lots of fat and lots of omega-3 supplements. I never took glucosamine/chondroitin because they never hurt.

I have crunchy knees and they started to hurt. I take Glucosamine/Chondroitin and no more pain. So if and when they start to hurt, try taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin. Without it, I’d would have had surgery by know because if I run out and don’t take it for a couple of weeks – OUCH!

I love your nails! Super cute. I have crunchy hips. Every time I attempt to become flexible, they snap. (Like you, without pain). And EVERY TIME I feel the need to explain this to whoever is around me so they don’t confuse it with a fart.

I’m in my early 40s and my husband and I don’t even talk about gum at 10:00 p.m. because I’m asleep by then. Having a baby at 39 + getting up for work at 6:00 every day = me going to bed at 9:30 (or even earlier). Man, my 20 YO self would find my 41 YO self truly pathetic.

Crunchy Knees? OMG YES! I have it in my ankles too – so that whenever I walk down a flight of stairs you know it’s me because all anyone can hear (or pay attention to) is my footfalls going: pa-POP pa-POP pa-POP
Gragh. cool when you’re pre-teen. Less so when older.
Solutions = less walking, smaller steps, and cough over the first big distracting crack?
I hear eating lots of dark green veggies is supposed to help – but nobody has ever explained to me (satisfactorily) how or why that could be true.

OH! and the non-weight bearing stuff with your feet in the air is a great thing to do as that seems to help me when my joints are at their worst/noisiest. (Don’t let JB take advantage!)
and ohhhhhh, that manicure. SWEET! I love your new sexy licorice nails! Totally want my own now.

I totally have crunchy knees. They snap, crackle, pop whenever I walk down a flight of stairs (since I don’t do lunges). So basically my knees AND my ovaries behave as if they’re 80.

Girl, the crunchy knees won’t go away! I’ve had crunchy knees (osteoarthritis) for years (and multiple knee surgeries) – and I’m only 27. If over the counter meds work – good for you! I have to lift or walk 3-4 times a week or they are “extra crunchy”

I’ve had those crunchy knees since I was a kid and just assuming it’s a permanent thing. Love the nails – hey – if it makes you happy – do it! And love the JB gum thing!

I have crunchy shoulders, it’s gross. And I just saw your tweet in the corner about Bodyrock.tv. I just discovered it last week and have done a few of the workouts and oh man am I SORE. I love it though, I think the workouts are great and if I can end up somehow resembling that woman in any way then I’ll consider it totally worth it. Funny, because after following your posts about fitness and stuff I totally thought of you when I found the website :)

I recently got a manicure using this fancy polish they kind of bake on to your nails so it won’t chip (I had a gift certificate). Since I usually chip my manicure within 6 hours of getting my nails done, I was ridiculously delighted when these didn’t chip for 10 days. Sometimes silly little things are enough, you know?

My knees are getting crunchier as I get older. I don’t know why, but the crunch doesn’t hurt, so I try to ignore it.

Wow, don’t a lot of people who read your blog have crunchy fuckin knees??

Weird.

PS. Me Too! No, seriously

Holy cow, this crunchy knee epidemic is awesome! I seriously thought I was the only one. Mine didn’t used to hurt but since having a baby 3 years ago, I can no longer squat without pain. Currently pregnant with baby 2 so I won’t be investigating this right now but my doctor did tell me about the non-weight-bearing exercises to strengthen the quads.

My Mama has the same crunch so I think it’s genetic although I also blame 10 years of step aerobics :)

Give us an update if you find something that works!