patellofemoral syndrome, knee pain questions

23 years ago

Does anyone here have patellofemoral syndrome, which is knee pain, especially with stairs? My pain always occurs about 24 hours after doing anything, such as too many staries or walking up and down hill. Running and jogging has been out of the question for years. In the past, however, I did get relief from backing off exercise, but now I have become worse. I can not exercise at all for the past three months.

Is it helpful to keep the knee straight when sitting down? Because I only feel the pain later, it is easy for me to over do gardening and not realize until the next day, that my knee hurts. If my knee hurt at the time of the activity, I would know that what I was doing was bad for my knee.

Can anyone else share information with me? What things did you find were helpful to your condition?

Dr. Dean Edell says surgery is not helpful, and therefore my HMO will not pay for surgery. A double blind study proved the surgery was not helpful.

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Comments (4)

Linda352
23 years ago
Hi BugGirl.....I don't know if I have PS but I do get knee pain when I go overboard with my exercise routine. I used to be a runner and then when I tried to start up again last year I realized that wasn't going to happen due to my knees acting up. I am 50 and feeling like I'm just falling apart. I have been able to do a walk/jog combination on a regular basis which so far hasn't been a problem. After doing this for 4 consecutive days my left knee was starting to let me know to give it a rest so I did take the weekend off which did the trick. When I laid in bed and bent my knee I could feel a lump which must have been some swelling on the inside of the knee. I know that as we age our joints don't lubricate like they used to so that's what causes pain. Have you tried some MSM with glucosamine? I did this for a while and it seemed to help. I just stopped as I take so many vitamins and other things at this stage that I just never bothered to buy it again. This may help you. Also during your time of discomfort try putting some ice or a heating pad depending on it your preference. This works for all my other aching joints/muscles also. What about some Ben Gay or other type of joint rub. I use a product called BioFreeze which I got from my chiropractor. It's very cooling and really helps relieve my discomforts. Hope this helps a bit. I know it's not fun dealing with these problems. Another idea which I've used is a knee support wrap. Maybe if you wear this during the day for a while it will support your knee so it won't cause you the pain later on. These have all worked for me so hope something here will help you....Good luck......Linda/NJ
bug_girl
Original Author
23 years ago
Dear Linda,

I have had this problem since I hurt my knee in college, thank God it is only the one knee, the other one is ok. I have tried braces which did not work, as it was not a question of the knee moving from side to side, but each time I bend my knee, in a normal fashion, such as getting up and sitting down, or each step of a stair, is what caues the pain. I do sometimes use those pain patches, and Advil and so on, but I wish I could dance again. So, I wish for an improvement, not just management of pain. I guess, I am being unrealistic. I am happy you can keep working out, but if find a lump, a doctor should check that. I never have any physical manifestation of my pain.
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bug_girl
Original Author
23 years ago
I got a shot of cortisome in my knee and I am hoping for some improvement, in the short term at least. Has anyone else had this done?
djrachman
12 years ago
Bug_Girl - How'd the cortisone shot in your knee work out?

This is 12 years later so I REALLY hope you've fixed your patellofemoral pain by now. I'd love to know what helped you- from your posts I think I have the same problem. Been suffering for 6 years now and am so sick of holding the railings going down stairs and not being able to work out

patellofemoral syndrome, knee pain questions

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Linda352

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patellofemoral syndrome, knee pain questions

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Linda352

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