So, I have been on this board once before . In a nutshell, one day in December 2006, I felt a twinge on the lateral side of my left knee
and 12 hours later there was pain on top of the knee. The OS diagnosed it as patellofemoral syndrome and told me to do straight leg
raises and take naproxen. He didnt say to reduce my activity. So I kept walking ( 3 miles a day) and in the course of week - I gradually
reduced my activity because of recurrent episodes of sharp pain over the lateral side of the knee. The OS then gave me a neoprene knee brace
with a patella stabilizer and diclofenac. With one day of use, the brace pushed my patella against the femur ! It hurt bad - and caused a one week bout
with terrible inflammation. I decided not to walk for over a week to let the knee calm down. At the same time I continued to take the diclofenac.
By this time I was on crutches as I was afraid to put weight on the leg. After a week of this - I went to another orthopedist who wanted an MRI
to rule out a lateral meniscal tear. He found none and prescribed physical therapy, but offered no insight on the inflammation. So I went to
rheumatologist - he hasnt looked at the MRI yet but gave me some more diclofenac and has ordered blood tests.
No one has mentioned the possibility of a lateral collateral ligament sprain or tear . Could this be it ? If so, how can I treat it myself
until the doctors find it ? Would an MRI miss it? Now that I can walk since the inflammation is reduced - I am pretty weak.
What sort of exercises or stretches are safe to do with a lateral collateral ligament tear? Thanks,
