Chondromalacia -- excruciating knee pain!!

dodd319

I was told years ago that I have condromalacia. It affects kneecaps & the cartilage around them. I've never been a runner -- unless I was running toward the food! It's never been an issue until now since I've started jogging.

Does anyone else suffer from this? And what exercises do you do to ease the pain?

Thanks!!!

Here's a link to the site for information on this:

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/patelladisorders/a/chondromalacia.htm

laurad1406

I actually have it as well, i was diagnosed when I was very young though, about 4th grade when I started playing basketball it was incredibly painful! I had to wear a brace to help keep the kneecap in place and avoid rubbing against the cartalige. Have you tried that?

pbe21577

I have it too and cortisone shots help, but only temporarily - my ortho doc has told me that I need bilateral knee replacement, but that he won't do it for at least 10 more years, so in the meantime, he is using cortisone shots and viscosupplementation to decrease the pain and grinding.....hope that helps!

Charice

I have this..have ever since I was a kid. My Dr suggested three exercises to strengthen the inner thigh muscles. First was to ride a bike. Apparently riding helps work the inner thigh muscle because of the "straight on" motion. Second, he suggested straight leg lifts. Sit in a chair and take your foot out straight, hold for 5 seconds, put it down. He suggested 3 sets of 10 reps a couple of times a day for me. This is even something that can be done sitting in front of the TV...he suggested doing it through the commercials. The last was to get a ball (soccer, volleyball, etc), put it between my knees and squeeze...again 3 sets of 10 a few times a day. There is a weight machine at my gym that you sit with your knees spread in the machine then pull your knees together...that is basically the same as the ball exercise. I have never found a lot of success with a brace, but some people do. Good luck!

aviduser

I had surgery for runners knee (the easier name for the same thing). Running with extra weight can contribute. Also pronation/supination (rolling of your ankle in or out on the foot fall) will mess up your knees. You might try seeing a podiatrist to get fitted for orthotics.

Unfortunately, my ortho told me the pain does not really go away. He did the surgery and I was able to run again after that. Alternatively, try non-ballistic exercises (eliptical/cycle).

DonM46

I got an injection of something that did wonders. While I was on my back, he had me raise my knee to make about a 90 degree angle, and stuck the needle horizontally from below my kneecap and went under the kneecap.
I had another injection in each knee a year later.
Whatever the medicine was, it acted like a lubricant between the underside of the kneecap and the ends of my leg bones and filled voids so that the kneecap slipped smoothly over the ends of the lower thigh bone and the top of the lower leg bones.
Pretty expensive shots, though. As I recall, over $300 each, but insurance paid it.
The doc said the underside of the kneecap should be smooth and slick, like the ends of a chicken drumstick, but mine were crabmeat. The only other viable avenue is knee replacement.
They can go in and smooth the kneecap -- kinda like sanding a board smooth -- but that's just a temporary fix.
Might also look at taking an anti-inflammatory. I take 4 Aleve per day. Add some glucosamine and chondroitin (not sure of the spelling on those) to help.
Aquatic exercises are best -- low impact. No jogging. Stairclimbers are borderline.

lovejoydavid

I have it too and cortisone shots help, but only temporarily - my ortho doc has told me that I need bilateral knee replacement, but that he won't do it for at least 10 more years, so in the meantime, he is using cortisone shots and viscosupplementation to decrease the pain and grinding.....hope that helps!

I agree with your doc. Excercises are lovely in the very early stages, but I cannot see how they can offer relief when the articular cartilage has roughened and worn to the extent of being quite symptomatic. Visco is an awesome modality, and our ortho office (my wife is the physical extender for the director of ortho and sports med in my hospital system) uses it extensively. Arthoscopic surgery can delay the need for knee replacements, as well. I spent about 13 years working in ortho before moving to critical care, and we had limited impact using exercises on such extensive degenerative diseases. Excercise is better in the preventative stage, or in recovery in the post intervention stage.

My advice would be to find pool based therapy, such as water aerobics. Any unweighted, non-closed chain activity (feet not in contact with ground) could be beneficial. Not swimming, however, as the kicking motion can be devasting to a weakened knee.

ClareB1974

I have nothing to add except my sympathies. I had my first athroscopic operation for CP when I was 13 and had had 3 ops by 16. I'm 36 now and whilst I could never run, I do walk miles and miles. I also do similar exercises to those mentioned by Charice - any inner thigh exercise seems to help a little. I no longer take any medication, the only thing that worked well was co-proxamol and that was banned from use in the UK about 4 years ago - as nothing else helps any, I refuse to take anything. Cold wet winters are bad so I 'make hay while the sun shines' and spend as much time as I can outdoors in the warmer drier months. I also find that carrying extra unnecessary weight makes the pain worse, which then begs the question - why did I allow myself to gain so much weight, but that's a whole other thread!

I wish you well and hope you find what works for you :-)