Knee locking

hi My inner knee joint came out new years day ,it would not go back into place , but i fainted with terrific [ain .. Im still panicking just incase it goes again  Im frightened of doctors .. there must be a weekness there

I was so thankful to come across this conversation.  I had problems with a locking knee as a child.  There ws one time in particular that I sat on the playground and couldn't get up.  The bell rang and all the kids went in, but I couldn't get up, so I sat there.  My mother had to drive her car out onto the playground to get me and drive me to the doctor.  Even the car ride was painful because it felt like 2 bones hooked around each other at the back of my knee that were trying to pull apart but couldn't.  I could not extend my leg from the bend position and shifting gravity as my mother turned corners in the car caused terrible pain.  At age 50 I experienced pain again, but different.  The doc did lazer surgery to repair torn meniscus and frayed cartilage.  Today (4 years later) just sitting at my desk at work, my knee locked again.  I am going to make a doctor's appointment but will print out this entire conversation and show it to the doctor.  I have a fairly aggressive work out routine, and I'm terrified of having it interurpted due to knee problems...

Hi i'm pretty sure this has been my problem too.  my knee locked up 3 weeks ago and ive been having problems with various stages of locking and unlocking since.  I've been on a healthy eating thing for the last year so in my search (decribing my symptoms like a cramp but in my knee joint) i have been looking at my diet and noticed that i have slipped back into my old ways of not drinking enough being now a hot summer. yesterday morning it locked again.  In a huge amount of pain ( usually rub and work it until it frees the straighter it is when it locks the less pain and the quicker it unlocks) i remembered that i still hadnt gotten around to that big rehydrating drink i was planning and was so thirsty i decided to use the tap i was near as the kitchen and a glass was too far away to get to in so much pain.  Once finished i stood up and realised that my knee was already unlocked and feeling freer and better than it had in 3 weeks i spent all day yesterday drinking and woke up with my knee feeling great.  looking back the worst day with my knee i could have actually been quite dehydrated.  Im starting to think that my problems with my Popliteus muscle (new info found from this discussion thank you ) might be a lack of fluids/ dehydration causing it to cramp.  not sure if anyone else has noticed the same but off to drink my bucket today lol

Hi Hartley

Hi I have had problems for a year and it seems to just be getting worse.. I feel like my leg needs to pop however I feel as if I shouldn't let it as it could inflict pain. I dont know what to do as it really hurts when pops in and back out. The feeling where I feel it needs to crack or whatever is on the right side of my knee. I'm only 11 and it becomes really sore. I had to search it up and find something to help me. It would be great if you could reply instructing me on what to do! Thanks 😃

Hello. I posted a few weeks ago when my right knee locked (again). I said I would post again after MRI etc so here it is. In summary, I have had occasional episodes of my knees locking since about age 10. It can happen in either knee. In adult life it has always been associated with twisting with the leg lightly bent and with little or no weight on the legs. Swivel chairs have casued it twice. I have had 10 year gaps with no locking. The sensation is like something has dislocated. it is excrutiatingly painful and in every case between 10 mins and 4 hours later, with a loud thud, things go back to normal. Having done much more research this time, I can confidently state that it is a specific type of locking - the knee is utterly without function when locked although over time it can be extended or possible bent further. You could not walk on it. It is not like the sometimes described snagging in the joint - which I beleive is more assocatiated with menisci tears. No doctor has ever been able to diagnose the problem (I am married to one). In my case the knee cap does not seem to be dislocated. My MRI showed virtually nothing. I am not surprised. I do not have a torn meniscus. They only physical sign is aparently "mild" patella alta. For those who don't know, this means that the patella rides high on the leg. It is aparently asscoiated with patellae dislocations. I now think that my problem is related to this (what else could it be?) but it is not a full dislocation fo the patella all the pictures I have seen show the knee cap sticking out at an odd angle. This does not happen to me. I wonder if there is aform of partial dilocation - out of the groove that it is supposed to track in that is actually the cause of what people have described here? Or possibly the tendon from the hamstring dislocates? I am going to continue with follow ups because I don't want this to happen again! I alos, like others feel that no-one seems to be able to give a good explanation. Back to the research papers.....

Chris

 oh man.. im scared. im only 14 years old and my knee has been locking for around 2 years.. and then this morning i relised that every single time i sit down  my knee locks and i have to pull it straight again with painful results... im standing up typing this right now and i can not sit ndown.. i tried physo and all that but it will not help... i carnt just stand up forever... any advice?

Just one hour ago my knee was locked and I was furiously looking for an answer to get it back in place. You guys are awsome. I can't thank you enough. Each one of you who volunteered your time to write on this thread should know that there's one more person who you helped find a way to releve an excruciating pain. Words can't describe how happy I was to find this post. Thank you

Hi Hartley

After reading your post, this caught my eye " it it felt like bone against bone if I tried to extend the leg..." I cringed as i remembered the same pain that I myself experienced about 2 years ago. When my knee would lock up it took me a long time to finally gain the courage to extend it, I was traumatized, I fear even today that my right knee will lock if I sit crossed legged or lay on that knee when i sleep. I was 14 years old when my knee would lock it scared both me, my mother, and the school nurses. The first time it locked up I was at my house watching TV with my mother and I never wanted to experience that pain again. But unfortunately I had to go throught this pain five more times. We went to the doctor the second time it locked up, and the doctor didn't know what was wrong and just told my mother that i was faking the pain for attention. So instead of having relief or answers we were slaped with a big bill for the 3 doctor's visits and a week  phisical therapy. I often still have pain in my knee but it hasn't locked up in two years. I just hope we can find the answer to why this happens.

Hi Hartley,

I have just seen this but thank god! I am nearly 16 and have been frequenlty experiencing this and usually been able to put it back into place it was only last week i was on route to Scotland I collapsed in the train station after kneeling down, with pain of never before! Its as if my whole leg went into spasm and i couldnt move however after gas and air and 2 hour wait in a&e the doctor sent me home with no idea what I had done. I was on crutches yet 2 days later after swelling went down I was almost back to normal.

However, recently I have been going to physio yet my knee only plays up sometimes, the movement seems to be occurring yet again but only as bad as when It first started happening. Ever since my accident I have been petrified to bend/kneel and cross my knees since. I have been diagnosed with a condition of Elhers-Danlos Syndrome and as soon as doctors hear, they mostly put my injuries down to that, I feel lost nd unsure with what it is but i'm just so relieved I'm not the only one!

Hello everyone,

I am 18 years old and today my knee locked again. This has happened frequently to me and began at around 13 when I was taking part in an athletics tournament. At first it seemed to happen about twice or thrice a year. However, this year it has happened about 4 times already this year and it's only May. I am quite sporty and it suggests to me maybe I am overworking my knee and there is some underlying problem. When feeling my knee it feels no different but I cannot extend it from a 45 degree position, however after a few hours it unlocks again but feels slightly weaker for another extra few hours. 

These increased occurences are what have worried me most recently and encouraged me to write on a forum. I have visited a knee specialist and even they didn't know what was wrong with it. It's an irritating problem as it puts me out of doing thing's I want to do, it most likely annoys my work especially as I have to call in sick as my work requires me to be on my feet for a long time and I know many will assume I am exaggerating the pain as there is no noticeable problem. 

I would appreciate any feedback I can get from this. 

Thank you

Hello,

I am 17 (18 in one month) and this has happened to me tonight about an hour ago!

This started when I think I was about 14/15 I used to get it all of the time! I even got it twice in one day once! And it seems to be always my left leg but I have had it in my right once I think.

I don't think it happened at all for about a year or two and tonight I as sat on my knees stoking my dog and i felt it lock

I used to be so cautious with sitting on my knees. I try to avoid it now.

I really don't know what to do as it old the doctor and they gave me a leaflet on growth spirts..

In glad other people experience this too so we can find this out together!

-have you had any news about what this is?

Elysia

Xoxo

Hi Hartley,

I too have had the locking of right knee since I was about 6 or so, 50 in December. It is excruciating pain. Once it is locked it is locked from bending or straightening. Not so much my right knee any more as my left. It locked up on me the other night while trying to get up off the floor from laying laminate flooring. All I could was scream and cry while trying to unlock it. About 5 minutes later after I relax by laying back on the floor it unlocked and with a loud pop back to where it needed to be with much releaf. So, the next business day I called my daughters knee doctor she had last year. Saw him last Friday. Sent me for MRI. Results are yesterday 9/4: Arthritis through out my knee for life and 2 tares in the Manias of the side of knee. Opts are Cortisone shot or surgery. I chose shot, but as of this morning 9/5 it has tried to lock on me while at work just sitting at my desk when I move about 6 times. So, I will be calling him back on Monday. I will have to live with the pain and try not let it lock due to the laminate floor I am doing at home has to get done before November. The pain has always been excruciating. I will keep you posted as to what is going on and I hope you can have another MRI done maybe at a different facility with a different doctor reading the info.