Knee Cap Grates

[kingiam]

Hi All,

I have had 20 years of issues with my right knee - 5 ACL repairs and it’s now good. However 16 months ago I was on a wobble board and my worst nightmare came true and I felt a twinge on the inside of my 'good' knee the left knee. After all my issues with the left knee I placed a knee support on the knee but suffered tingling and pins and needles for the next 2 months

Quite a hard to handle period of time now that my good knee was becoming a bad knee

I saw a physio who taped my knee cap which resolved the pins and needles flowing through my shin and toes and lower thigh, the Orthopaedic surgeon done an MRI which showed all ligaments and cartridge was good and that if it was that horrible nerve in the back then I would feel it on the top of the thigh - BUT top of the thigh was good so pins and needles came from knee but taping sorted out the pain

3 months later and pain disappeared

1 month later pain came back and it was worse than ever, I saw physio and taped it myself done every stretch and every exercise possible and pain disappeared for a few minutes and then came back, from one legged squats, to bike riding, to stretching to everything, nothing improved and the situation was terrible

Saw another physio for a last bit of hope, a different physio who said my thigh and calf muscles were tight in my right knee after walking mainly on that leg for 20 years due to my acl repairs on the left knee i stretched and stretched again and again and the knee cap felt better for minutes and then went back to grating - phsyio said i need to see a foot specialists a - podiatrist - I saw the lady and she watched me walk and said that I walked with my feet going inwards and that I need supports and that this pressure was causing everything to maltract - especially the knee cap, she placed the supports in my trainers - watched me walk and said now everything looked fine, I walked and walked and everything felt - weird - good but weird.

4 days later and I can extend my knee and the grating has reduced by an estimated 75% which feels so good, walking feels so good. so for those of you that have grating knee caps then I would advise that you think about the way you walk and especially the way your feet hit the floor and roll inwards or maybe outward but someone looking at this - will be worth their weight in gold - 14 months of pain and mental torture has been reduced and improved by a podiatrist.

Please, please read the above, as after researching for months and years or weird knee pains of pins and needles in thighs and calf’s and shins and toes I believe i have been cured................i am sitting here writing this at a desk which usually causes me so much pain that I give up  after a few minutes,

I hope the above is useful and helpful to many as it only takes the knee alignment or more precisely a the heel / foot alignment to be a few degrees out to twist that knee joins and cause that pain.

Regards

Peter

[Forevergimpy]

Peter-
 What a great ending to a tough story! I am happy that you have found relief with orthodics. It's funny how many of us have knee issues due to maltracking or misalignment that continue to plague us even after surgical interventions. I most likely have miserable malalignment on both sides but have only really struggled with my right knee. In fact, since the TTT to align my right knee properly, I have fractured my right foot and torn ligaments in my ankle twice and now am having some hip trouble on that side. I don't regret the TTT at all, but I do think that changing the alignment in only one area of the leg causes some "adjustments" in the other areas too.  I think you were wise to follow the advice and look at your leg as a whole not just focus on the knee. Thank you for sharing your good news and good luck in continued improvement! 

[Snowy]

I'd echo kingiam's comments. After suffering chronic PFS in both knees for nearly a decade, finally getting a PT who knew what they were doing made a world of difference. My current PT completely changed up my exercise regime (focusing on gentle, progressive strengthening movements rather than aggressive exercises like squats) and got me into a set of custom orthotics. Within a month, I was able to walk up and down stairs comfortably for the first time in years. Of course, I then blew my ACL halfway through treatment and ended up on an entirely different journey, but my carelessness with the left knee doesn't alter how effective the right approach was for the original maltracking issues. The first surgeon I saw for these problems insisted that a lateral release was the only answer; fortunately my current surgeon and PT were both quite sure that appropriate strengthening, orthotics and possibly bracing would be sufficient to resolve the issues.