Knee problems

I have some knee pain (I'm sure no where near what you are dealing with! yikes!) and people have suggested that I use a patella band. You can get them at a drugstore or Wal Mart.
The elliptical is good exercise without putting too much stress on your knees. To ease the pain after a workout, use ice (not heat). And you might try using Bio Freeze before you start - I use that on my shoulder sometimes with great results. Good luck!

I have no idea if this would help you or not- but I have "irritability issues" as the doc called it, with my knees. My running coach suggested strength training my legs, specifically suggested leg extensions, 3 times a week. The doctor suggested seeing a sports physiotherapist. I think I'll try strength training first (physio costs more than the gym for me lol)

Definitely look into giving your knees a little more support when working out until you gain more strength. I have patella femoral syndrome, basically mal-formed knees, and sometime I need to use a brace when working out. Yoga has actually really helped my knee pain.

I have some knee pain (I'm sure no where near what you are dealing with! yikes!) and people have suggested that I use a patella band. You can get them at a drugstore or Wal Mart.
The elliptical is good exercise without putting too much stress on your knees. To ease the pain after a workout, use ice (not heat). And you might try using Bio Freeze before you start - I use that on my shoulder sometimes with great results. Good luck!

I also use the elliptical of my cross training days (jog the every other day) for this very reason.

I know that your knee problems are more severe than people who just have knee tendonitis and such, but I've been doing some asking around and if you can use your muscle to stabilize your body and moreso than your joints when youre working out, it could help. This sounds counter to what you might think you need, but doing increased strength exercises for your legs might be a solution. Now, I certainly wouldn't advocate going home and doing 400 squats with 30 lb. weights or something, but if you can work on squats with extremely good form and possibly some calf raises, you can sort of bypass the reliance on your knee joints in favor of using your leg muscles. I did this in a very mild fashion when I had some tendon issues in my right knee. My squat form was off and it was making my knee so much worse. Good form was key for me as was adding light weights to my exercises and wearing properly fitted shoes not just while working out but all day long.

I think I rambled stuff.... take it with a grain of salt

I've an incident of bursitis in my knee that popped up over the weekend. I bought a nifty brace that keeps your knee stable, with metal, bendable stablizer bars on either side as well as velcro straps to hold the brace part snug around your knee. It isn't uncomfortable at all, and I've worn it basically 24/7 since my knee started acting up last Friday (from sitting in an odd position for nearly 5 hours, engrossed in a project). It's purpose is to allow you to exercise while preventing further injury. I can run, jump, step up/down...everything except twist the knee to one side (which was my issue). The bar keeps the jump/step impact on my knee from being severe. The pain is nearly gone, although still swollen and tender. I plan to continue to wear it the rest of this week, then go back to exercising (zumba and kickboxing).

Maybe something like that (plus the ice) would help?

http://www.footlocker.com/product/model:595/sku:4280/mcdavid-pro-stabilizer/black/&SID=7111&inceptor=1&cm_mmc=SEM-_-Engine-_-Google-_-Plusbox&siorigin=pla