I am 35 years old. I have had problems that seem to come and go with my knees. My doctor diagnosed me with Patellla femoral pain syndrome a few years back,
The patella, commonly referred to as the "knee cap", and its tendon transmit power from the quadriceps to the lower leg. Normally, as the knee bends, the patella slides smoothly along a groove in the thigh bone. However, under certain conditions the patella may experience forces which push it against the sides of the groove, causing pain. Additionally, inflammation and roughening of the smooth underside of the patella may occur. Collectively, this process is referred to as patellofemoral syndrome (PFS). Some of you may be familiar with the older term, chondromalacia patella.
PFS is one of the most common causes of knee pain in runners. The pain is usually located in the front part of the knee, but may be on the inside, outside, or vaguely located. The pain can feel either sharp or dull, and is often made worse by squatting or walking down stairs. Sometimes there is grinding or clicking. Predisposing factors include,
Training errors - excess hill work, stairs, or too much distance
Biomechanical abnormalities - overpronation, "knock knees", poor pelvic control
Muscle tightness - calf, hamstrings, iliotibial band, or vastus lateralis.
Muscle weakness - vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), gluteus
This comes and goes and gets worse and better. I was told to avoid exercises that put pressure on the knees, like squats and avoid "impact" exercise.
A few years later after that, about 6-8 months ago, I started having "crunching" noises in my knees. Both knees make a crunching/grinding noise when I bend. You can hear me doing leg extensions at the gym. Everytime I extend my knees out to lift the weight you hear -- Crunching!. I even hear it when I walk down stairs. Funny thing is I thought it was the stairs creaking, turns out it was me!. The wife just says its gross.
So I went to the doctor for that problem and got X-rays. They said I have the begining of arthritis. At this point I don't have to take medication because I don't have pain. The crunching noise is because of the wearing away of cartilidge. Both my parents take medication for arthritis, and also have problems with their knees. I will get sharp shooting pains in either knee once in a while when I walk. Pretty much I just deal with it for now. I have been doing more cardio lately and now BOTH problems are acting up again.