[Closed] Patellofemoral problems

knee joint is most complex joint in the body

start with shoe / bike fit by a [i]professional[/i] and work from there

Hey,

I have had my bike properly fitted now so that shouldn't be the problem.

Just using the clutch too much when driving can set it off 🙁 Want to build more strength, but anything I do exasperates it. Catch 22 🙁

shoe orthotics assessment? if ya foots weird then your borked from there up!

I have a similar problem just now. Mine came from a huge reduction in the miles that I do, which lead to uneven muscle waste. My treatment is to do lots of leg extensions concentrating on the last 30 degrees of movement - oh and more biking. It is my right knee that has the problem and is irritated by driving lots. Offset pedals in the car dont really help.

Qwerty are you sure the knee is the most complex joint in the body? I would put hip and shoulder above them for complexity.

yeah, used to have a puma and the clutch was stupid hard and offset! Sure that's helped start the problem. I also trained for a 100km ride and over did it some what!

So do you get the discomfort, not pain, after riding? I can be painful if I keep pushing it after it's not happy, but it takes quite a lot to get to that point.

The sports physio said do about 70% of what you normally do and carry on. The NHS physio said stop everything. Problem is, I can't just not use my leg. I have stopped doing things for a while, but to be honest it did nothing. Just came back as soon as I stepped up the training a bit 🙁

Who invented these stupid knees? Think God must have had the committee in on his one.....

My physio explained it very well to me (NHS). Kneecap is subjected to a three way vector pull. One of those vectors is the wrong size so either one needs to be strengthened or two need to be weakened and nobody every wants to weaken something. Doing nothing is not really an option for an active person. Your physio may have been used to seeing lots of older patients where that might have been the best option for them.

I get a really annoying niggle. Not all that painful most of the time, but it is really annoying and puts you off biking and running a bit.

Look up exercises that will strengthen the muscle that is weak and do them.

I tried taping, but could never get the stuff to stick in the correct position. Anyone know where you can get that pink or blue tape that you see on these athlete dudes?

Sounds about right. She probably sees lots of old people.

The sports physio said I need to strengthen my glute and stretch out my itb. He also said to strengthen my inside thigh.

It's good to talk to someone with a similar problem as you know what it's like. I guess I wanna hear "don't stop moving, keep going and do you exercises". The NHS physio didn't help with that.

I am my own worse enemy sometimes though as I go from nothing to all out assault, which I guess the knee can't take.

Right, I'm off to do some exercise and get this think licked!

Cheers mate 🙂

Best exercise for adding a bit of strength to the knee is , get a dinning table type chair ,sit on the floor with your ankles either inside or outside 2 of the legs , depending which you've chosen to start with press in/out for a 10 count and swap then repeat.

This is one of the best exercises the NHS physio gave me after I ruptured my patella tendon in an RTA. Before I started doing them I only had very limited control when I started walking without crutches.

Still worth playing with bike fit - perhaps the person who did it for you was confused. Saddle height, cleat positions, crank length. Maybe other things. Google is your friend.

I have very similar problems with both of my knees. Left one has been bad for 10+ years, the right for 5+ years.
Same place as you describe. Managed to train and compete at a reasonable level until about 3 years ago when it was just not fun any more due to the pain.
Have had loads of MRI scans, x-rays, seen lots of bike-fit people, lots of physio's and had an arthroscopy on the left knee.
I feel that the operation was bodged; they removed a 15x10mm piece of cartilage from the end of my femur, have additional pain in that area of the knee too now, and pain behind the kneecap is still as bad.
Find driving in heavy traffic painful, can't kneel down and straightening my leg always hurts.

I have found that regular cycling (still quick but not as quick as before !) helps, as does lots of proper stretching, strengthening and balance exercises. Bike set up is now critical.

About to have further surgery on the left knee. Got a highly recommended knee expert now. He is proposing a procedure where he 'partially releases' a tendon at the side of the knee. This should reduce the pressure behind the knee cap. He will clean up the inside of it all too. Not keyhole though, and will need a load of additional physio after. Hope it works..... will have the right one done later if so.

I reckon you get a second opinion on your set up, physio, everything ! Keep it moving, keep it warm, and if you end up having surgery then make sure the surgeon is a knee specialist.

Blimey Stanley, sounds like you've been through the wars with your knees 🙁

After doing a bit more reading and speaking to the wife (gp) a bit more about it, it seems there isn't much of a black and white answer to it. I personally need to build up more instead of going like a bull in a china shop. The weird thing is is that I did snowboarding nearly every weekend in nz last year, where I bent my knees all the time, but I didn't have any problems at all? Any other knee bending activity, including walking, sets it off.

I guess I'm let in a similar situation to a lot of people with this, not much the wiser 🙁