The patello-femoral joint :

Knee mechanics all wrong. - - Posted by maggimc (maggimc), 7 January 2005

Hi have just come back from having phsio (second lot since knee operation ) this is because i requested phsio as i felt that my kneecp was traking laterally. Low and behold she is totally bemused with my knee mechanics. My kneecap on bending are the kneecap goes medially laterally, then in the middle. With a click. Seeing is believing. She feels that my hamstrings and quads are okay but one set is shorter than the other  especially near my bum and my v.m.o is not very good, I have a more excersises to do. I have a muscular imbalance as she put it. I am a bit worried though as if my knee is not working as ones should will it need a bigger operation down the line. I really do not want another one, i have no pain just the annoying stiffness in the evenings.  I can cope at present and i am mobile. Has anyone else got this problem, or was it caused by the surgery, as it was re-alined, and lateral release perfomed. or the knee needs to be sorted out once again. As im Fifty and no spring chicking but lots of get up and go in the mind but not knees should i be concered. Maggi
Posted by shadehawk (shadehawk), 13 January 2005

Hi Maggi, just saw your post, how have you been doing?   I see you had a LR, do you feel that the LR was a failure?  You seem to be having some of the same problems that Linds is having that is why I am asking you this.

At least you are not having pain with this wierd tracking and with PT it might get back to normal.  Hope so.!

I have been doing PT for ages myself with no luck, but it does keep me moving.  I noticed your age and we are in the same age group, I have not had any surgery on my knees but have mal-alignment problems.  My knees sit medially when I stand and that sort of stuff.

Let us know how the PT is going!!!
Posted by maggimc (maggimc), 16 January 2005

Hi Shadehawk, thanks fo your reply, the phsio is going okay at present, had a almighty crack in the operated knee when laying on tummy and bringing leg to bum, pain was bad at the tme but has now gone. The good knee is bad again i think it this excersise, or the one were you lay on tummy and lift leg up while tensing muscles. I am not doing this again on this leg until i see the phsio again. How are you coping, i bet your glad that you have not had surgery yet after all the problems that it can cause. I wish now i had left my knees alone as i have more problems now than before surgery.I do feel that the lateral release was a failure, as my knee still feels most odd.I am really trying to lose the supports of tubigrip on each leg. I can manage just when i am not working. As i work for 3 days around children i and are on my feet most of the day they both get stiff. They give me confidence and supports the knees. I feel so sorry for Linds, she is having such a bad time. I read both your messages and feel that we have a lot in common. I hope that your knees improve. Maggi
Posted by shadehawk (shadehawk), 16 January 2005

Thanks Maggi, yes it has been a bummer, but like you say I have not had a LR.  The way my patellae are sooo hypermobile noone in their right mind would give me an LR surgery.

They just touch my knees and back off like they might be attacked by them or something.  My hubby calls my kneecaps his "pit bulls".  But, when you are the owner of these knees, it is hard to see the humor sometimes.  

I have now been given the okay by my GP to go to Ontario to see a top knee surgeon.  I e-mailed him and he is willing to assess my situation.  You can't ask for more.  I am hoping Linds will head in this direction sometime also.  She has a real bad time of late.

Hope that you can get your knee pain resolved soon, the pain just begins to drag you down after awhile.  Do not blame yourself for having a LR.  You are just trying whatever it takes to get yourself back to some form of normal again.  

It would be nice to go through an entire day without thinking about knees.  Well, we can dream of that day.......................  

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