Chondromalacia Patella

[black_tiger]

I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has come down with Chondromalacia Patellae (Runner's Knee), and if they continued with martial arts. For myself, I have been living with it for the past couple of years in my right knee. If I sit around and don't exercise the pain will almost completely disappear, but once I resume any type of weight bearing activity involving bending the knee past 30 degrees, the same old pain resurfaces.

Back about a year ago, an orthopaedic surgeon mentioned that strengthening the muscles around the knee joint (Squats) would take care of it. So it's been about a year of stretching and hitting the gym since, and I've noticed that with the extra strength I've gained, the pain has lessened but is still there, and is easily aggrivated by bending the knee. Being a little overweight (20%body fat) may be causing the condition to linger so I'm currently dieting to drop a few pounds. A goal of mine is to be about 10% body fat. Hopefully lightening the load on the joints will take care of this one. Another option I am considering is deep tissue massage to clean up scar tissue in the muscle areas controlling the knee to rule out imbalances.

I'd rather like to get back into Martial Arts training, but it seems like at this stage in my life the mind is willing but unfortunately the body is not, 32 years old now. :bang: Or maybe it's possible to just do forms, exercises and such without really bending the knees much.

Ideas on liniments, jow?, or other types of medicine that may speed up healing would also be greatly appreciated.

[zenpokaiten]

Glucosamine and Chondroitan hasnt helped?

[black_tiger]

Glucosamine Sulfate (without Chondritin) has helped noticeably reduce the pain. But I figure the beer I regularly consume doesn't help the situation much at all (a problem on my part I should really be working on).

[Cait]

The problem with Chondromalacia is that if left long enough, it starts to wear grooves into your cartilage. I recently had a lateral release done on both my knees to correct a severe case. Your ortho is right, strengthening the medial muscles is one of the best things you can do. A good physio can help you put together a good program to do that. Also, as Zenpokaiten reccommended, a mix of Glucosamine Sulfate & Chontroitin Sulfate will help the cartilage rebound.

[narcsarge]

Cait is right. If you have been supplementing w/ Glucosamine and Chondroitan and been hitting the weight room and you still have issues, surgery may be the only way to get rid of the pain.


Just curious, but why 10% BF? That is very lean IMO. competitive Body Builders compete at 6 to 9%. Most of us "normal" humans can't sustain that low amount of BF for extended lengths of time. If you can maintain 15% BF I would say that your in a rare class.

[black_tiger]

Thank you for the responses. Before I head down the road towards knee surgery, I'll be looking into deep tissue massage of the Quads/Calfs/Hamstrings as one last possibility. Maybe there's some scar tissue somewhere from an old injury. I'd rather try and exhaust all other options before surgery.

Cait, it is inspiring hearing that you have overcome Chondromalacia. Hopefully I will be able to say the same for myself. With lateral releases on both knees, there must have been a significant effort in returning to your present state.

Narcsarge, I've set 10% BF as a final goal for weight loss, since this would be significantly lightening the load on my joint. Roughly calculating, 10% should put my BMI well within the "normal" weight range for my height. Currently at about 15%, according to the BMI chart, I'm overweight!! (which is probably not that good for my knee(s)).

[Cait]

Thanks for that, Tiger. My surgery was on Halloween, and I'm still coming back from it, but there were also other factors besides just the chondromalacia. The trick is to stay active, have a good dr & physio, and above all LISTEN to your knees!

As for surgery, it's very minimally invasive, and recovery is usually pretty quick (don't use me as a marker, among other things I'm dealing with severe cartilage damage). Turn around time for it can be as good as a month, if you're in good shape to begin with. But it's good that you're exploring other options as well.

[budo_padawan]

I, too, have chondromalacia/patello femoral syndrome which ultimately put me out of the military and lead to a complete recronstruction on the left knee. For a number of years, I didn't do anything really physical because of the pain and irritation in both knee joints, which would explain the tire that took residence on my waist. I have since dropped a ton of weight and got involved in taekwondo. There are days when I suffer from inflammation and swelling and have to go back to the ice and Advil. The single biggest benefit for me has been strengthening the quad so it takes as much stress off the joint as possible. Be careful not to put your knee in more of a stressful position (i.e. doing squats completely wrong by letting your knees bend over top and past your toes) trying to strengthen. The gluc/chon is good advice as the others have suggested too. Lastly, learn when your joints are telling you they have reached the limit and throttle back. When it comes to the knees, there is no such thing as working through the pain.

[Late for dinner]

There are opinions on how to progress and bias your quads exercises . I think adductor/gracilis/sartorius/etc strengthening is not done enough. Stretching can be important as well including the lateral thigh (tfl) as well as the quads and the hams.

Don't forget that you need to re- ed yourself so you stop over using the lateral knee. Watch to see you keep your Knee cap pointing over your 3rd toe during horse stance etc ...

lots of factors at play and a variety of strategies will help long term recovery

fwiw

powchoy