Chondromalacia patella

DonMac

DonMac

Member
I play sports year round, my knees have been destroyed I barely have any cartilage in them left. After two runs I'm sitting in the lodge barely able to walk without my knees buckling. I'm so fucking pissed this sucks, does anyone else have this condition or similar things like patellar tendinitis? In such a bad mood right now I can't even explain it..
 
Yeah, I have something similar. Xrays, physio, etc. haven't found what the exact problem/solution is, but if I run or jump even a little bit (basically anything with impact), I end up with so much knee pain I can't go up or down stairs the next day.

In the past year, I've had to back out of a freeride camp and a tramp program because I didn't think my knees would last through the first day of either of them. It sucks when your brain really wants to do something that you know you are capable of, but your body won't cooperate.

It has taken me a while to mentally come around to accepting it rather than fighting it, and enjoying what I can do rather than fixating on what I can't. I'm not 100% there yet but working on it...

 
That sucks man I feel your pain, if I take like 3 weeks off physical activity it gets a lot lot better but then another week of my regular schedule and I'm having trouble just walking. I had to get two MRIs because the first one I got was in between seasons and my knees had time to heal so they couldn't diagnose it, the second one was mid season and the technician said most of my cartilage was gone. It's definitely not reassuring but I currently try to cope with it by icing every day, taking ibuprofen and hydrocodone and being careful. Good luck man!
 
I had a similar problem for years. It sucks wanting to finish the day of skiing so badly but being in so much pain at the same time.

The things that helped the most for me were doing a warmup before skiing, like I'd do leg swings and stuff, run around a bit with my ski boots on to warm up my legs, then I'd do a groomer lap to get started and just do a bunch of different turn sizes and try to get warmed up. It sounds super lame but my knees worked much better whenever I did this, maybe it'll help you too. It also really helped to do a cool down, when I got into the lodge at the end of the day or when I was home I'd just do a bunch of stretches. Using a physio roller also really helped, but I'm assuming you're already doing this if you've been through physio. My cartilege was also in better shape than yours I think.
 
I had patella enthesitis, which means having a scar right were the tendon insert into the bone. This is an advanced case of patella tendinitis. It is really painful and it hurts while you rest, sit, stand, o exercise. So I feel you. With PT, radio therapy and exercise it goes away, but takes some time.

Now I'm almost two weeks out of a knee surgery (ACL and meniscus) and have a long recovery but at least it doesn't hurt.

 
yuck dude, very sorry to hear that. I would certainly recommend PT. Patellar maltracking can def be helped with proper exercise and form. Work those glutes and make sure you are squatting properly. Maybe get some insoles - over pronation causes excessive internal rotation, limiting it may help the patella track a bit better! Good luck with you shit
 
I have a torn meniscus, it heeled pretty well but it used to hurt like shit. I would recommend getting a knee brace. Your knee sounds worse then mine, so maybe getting a custom CTI brace would help? get a good doctor and talk to him about it.
 
Reviving a dead thread, but I have this problem and thought I would share some resources. I'm currently a med student, and everyone should be educated about their own body. Most importantly, seek out a medical professional to determine that your problem is indeed chondromalacia patella (pain and swelling behind the knee-cap).

Explains the problem.

Simple stretching exercises.

Additional stretches + exercises:

Remember, low impact things (not running, I'm a former distance runner....now I bike), keep your knees straight when doing leg presses etc, and stretch!! And if it hurts...stop doing it. Start with low weights.

 
I got diagnosed with this yesterday and was told to do nothing for 3 weeks but everything I have read says to strengthen your quads etc. what gives?
 
Chondromalcia patella is a different dx than what a lot of people are discussing. Its when the cartilage under your patella starts to wear away from overuse. The best thing to do to solve it completely is to have surgery and cut out the torn cartilage. Cartilage is avascular so no matter what you do aside from surgery the problem will not be fixed by your own bodies healing process.
 
13262172:CaptTurner said:
Chondromalcia patella is a different dx than what a lot of people are discussing. Its when the cartilage under your patella starts to wear away from overuse. The best thing to do to solve it completely is to have surgery and cut out the torn cartilage. Cartilage is avascular so no matter what you do aside from surgery the problem will not be fixed by your own bodies healing process.
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Yes to solve it completely but what about alleviating the symptoms in their formative stages? I guess my cartilage is dented?
 
13262233:Bombogenesis said:
Yes to solve it completely but what about alleviating the symptoms in their formative stages? I guess my cartilage is dented?
Click to expand...

To alleviate pain it is going to be all about rest, not pushing it to hard where it will cause an extra damage and not subjecting your knees to big impacts, which is obviously tough to do in skiing. I would recommend seeing a physical therapist. Strengthening the muscles around the knee won't completely get rid of the pain, but it will help to stabilize the knee so that your knee can withstand some of those impacts.
 
13262256:CaptTurner said:
To alleviate pain it is going to be all about rest, not pushing it to hard where it will cause an extra damage and not subjecting your knees to big impacts, which is obviously tough to do in skiing. I would recommend seeing a physical therapist. Strengthening the muscles around the knee won't completely get rid of the pain, but it will help to stabilize the knee so that your knee can withstand some of those impacts.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to strengthen the muscles around my knee so that my patella stays on track and isn't pulled over due to weak quads. I'm not skiing or playing basketball til the pain subsides
 
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