Comments on: Patellofemoral syndrome

By: Mistress Krista

Mistress Krista — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:27:29 +0000

Katie: Get some physical therapy. PFS is kind of a catchall diagnosis simply meaning that the area is inflamed/irritated. I suggest you get a good, clear diagnosis from someone with specific expertise in the area of knee rehab.

By: Mistress Krista

Mistress Krista — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:34:01 +0000

Agreed — ART is awesome!!

By: Dr. Michael Weber

Dr. Michael Weber — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:15:01 +0000

In 2002 I discovered Active Release Techniques, ART, a medically patented technique developed by Dr. Michael Leahy. I was amazed at the ART treatment I personally received which immediately resolved my chronic shoulder, knee, and ankle problems that had responded minimally to other types of care. ART gave me my life back. I got my life back, I began running, cycling, swimming, etc.. I give all the credit to ART.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:07:58 +0000

I thought I tore my meniscus about a year back by trying to stretch out some jeans that had shrunk in the wash, and embarassingly, I told my doctor this when I went to have my knees looked at almost 6 months later. He diagnosed PFS, and now I’m trying to strenghen, stretch and take an anti-inflamitory suppliment. Sometimes I feel okay but I have a searing pain whenever I squat or kneel. I haven’t heard anyone mention this type of pain related to PFS. Does anyone have this symptom? Do you think I’ve been wrongly diagnosed?

PS…I did some heavy duty hiking around the same time it started. I remember not stopping to rest at all.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:01:59 +0000

I’d been having this same problem basically since I started doing weights, and it stopped a couple months ago. Obviously, I was highly suspicious since I didn’t know what I’d done to fix it and my feet tend to cause problems at bad times (I have high arches, with long, narrow feet—this is bad, bad, bad if my shoes get at all worn out or I run too much or…{insert endless series of problems caused by my darn feet}—so I assumed it had something to do with that).

Now, thanks to your article, I know it’s better because I’ve been taking Omega3 oils every day for the past months. So, thanks for relieving my paranoia. And I’d highly advise trying Omega 3s for anyone who hasn’t, yet. Just make sure to eat something, or you’ll be burping fishy for a while (which is gross).

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:56:02 +0000

First of all, a big thank you to Mistress Krista for relieving some of the tremendous stress I’ve been going through lately. Your humor is much appreciated. Your advice too.
Second, I have had knee pain since at least going back to my teens. (An incident that sticks in my memory is going to mount my bicycle and having the earth-bound leg feel as if it bent backward and down I went, right in front of the cute neighbor kid.) Recently I came across a book called The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. I borrowed it from my library, then purchased my own copy. It has helped me immensely! Not only for my knee pain either. Stiff necks, low back pain, pain down the side of my upper arm. According to the book much surgery could be avoided if people looked into getting rid of their “trigger points” (which is really just tensed, tightened muscle). Very, very helpful book, and I find it easy to understand and use too.

By: bbandef2

bbandef2 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:43:25 +0000

I had micro fracture surgery on my left knee 9 months ago. It has been a long recovery and I’m still not 100%. My knee is easily aggravated so I do low impact cardio and easy, light weight squats. I’m still working to get my quad muscles back after 6 weeks of crutches. I’m 52 so it takes me longer but I too would like more information on training tips for those of us with weak knees.

By: karen

karen — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:10:28 +0000

I have had knee pain from torn cartilage for 4-5 years, which just gets worse as the years go ( I’m 31). Suffering from several wrong diagnosis and in addition plica surgery/ arthroscopy ( which made my knees stiff and more painfull).

I am a fan of this site and would LOVE to see more training tips for ladies like me, where almost everything hurts big time: squats, lunges, leg extensions/- flexions, step up/down. And for those of us with this injury who have a difficult time doing any cardio because of this.

Ups, need I say my elbows have startet acting up too !? sore all the time, lock when I do tricep exercises and pop out of place.

Would love tips and shared stories.

By: dajohnson89

dajohnson89 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:33:07 +0000

Anti-inflammatory drugs relieve the symptoms of patellofemoral syndrome. However, they do nothing for treatment. Most anti-inflammatory drugs have minor side effects, which prevents even the strongest constitutions ingesting them over long periods of time. Furthermore, PF pain is typically activated with stress, and latent otherwise. So a much better recourse to pain management is maximum rest.

As a word of caution to anyone with this injury: you CANNOT run through it using ice and pain-killers. You need rest, flexibility, and strengthening. And rest. All of this is to allow the knee-cap to track around the aggravated cartilage. Otherwise, it will continue rubbing up against damaged and jagged cartilage, exacerbating the inflammation and delaying recovery.

The good news is: once the cartilage is smoothed out and repaired, the excessive stretching and strengthening isn’t necessary (unless you have a chronic condition; but most cases seem to be acute).

This injury floored me, and it will only go away with time.

By: rosibel

rosibel — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:40:43 +0000

My friend is athletic and healthy, but about 5 months ago, as she began running regularly after a temporary break, she started having knee discomfort. After researching about knee problems, she found that her knee discomfort was probably what is known as “runner’s knee”.

She says that 8 years ago she hurt her knee slightly while skiing, but it never bothered her again until now.

She has tried different things like icing, taking breaks from running, wearing a brace, but the problem has persisted. Wearing a brace may have kind of aggravated it because she took to wearing it all the time, and so may have weakened the muscles around the knee somewhat.

Now she’s talking about taking something called “Wobenzyme N” which is said to be an all-natural anti-inflammatory pain reliever, useful for sports-related injuries. I’m a bit skeptical about it, and have been trying to find the dirt online about this ‘Wobenzyme’ (which can be rather pricey) but am not finding much besides propaganda from the people who sell it.

So I turn to my most trusted source of info. on all things athletic/body/pumping iron/kicking ass. (I love this website, I don’t know how you find time to write so much on tons of useful topics, impeccably *and* make one laugh out loud and do training on top of that. Canadians to the rescue yet again!