Chondromalacia patella

[illgixxer]

I finally got to an orthopedic to have my knee checked out. X-rays showed up fine, and my doctor says I have Chondromalacia patella. He says I cannot do squats, leg presses, lunges, bicycle(is a maybe), or stair stepper excersies. I don't care about the bicycle or stair stepper but its pretty hard to take in that you can't do squats anymore. Honestly I don't have much pain or discomfort, maybe just the day of/day after lifting legs(which only consists of 6-7 sets of squats(3-8 reps each), 3-4 sets of leg curls, and 3-4 sets of standing calf raises, no leg presses. I do this once every 5-6 days and don't do cardio(which is light to moderate) more than 2 times per week. What does everyone think? Ignore him? Go to another doctor? I'm only 21, and have only been lifting legs for less than 2 years.

 

[AntonG42O]

do you have any pain? you can definitely strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee and do variations of squats that don't put as much pressure on the quad/knee area. if insurance allows try going to another doc. also if you have time try acupuncture. ive been going recently and it heals up any sports injuries very quickly and everything feels great. also try doing some light knee stretches to see how your flexibility is.

 

[illgixxer]

I wouldn't call it pain. My left knee is in slight discomfort compared to my right knee when walking. What exactly is acupuncture? I googled it and it said sticking needles in areas to relieve pain, is this what my doctor referred to as "you're too young for injections"? I wouldn't want to take any injections unless it made it heal, I don't want something that temporarily relieves discomfort because then I'd probably train harder and end up doing more damage, if you can understand that, right now I do just enough leg lifts to satisfy myself. I'm doing 3x a week physical therapy for 3 weeks so we'll see how that goes.

 

[AntonG42O]

no acupuncture is a 3000 year old chinese form of medicine that concentrates your own body's energy through use of tiny little needles that stimulate certain spots on your body. very effective in treating many conditions as well as sports injuries.

the injury you got is often a result of overuse, you probably played sports all your life and the knees took some wear. the cartilage isnt what it used to be so it results in pain. try rehabing it along with physical therapy. rest, ice it, take anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen. its very interesting how some injuries only go away when you reduce the swelling with an anti inflammatory. you should also look into getting a glucosamine chondroitin supplement, the highest strength. this stuff has shown to literally rebuild cartilage and it helps maintain it. any supplement store will have a glucosamine chondroitin MSM complex.

 

[illgixxer]

Thanks I will probably buy the supplement today and ask my physical therapist about acupuncture. Only negative I heard about ibuprofen was that it severely slows down protein synthesis(read this while surfing nutraplanet joint supps and one of the supps said thats a reason not to use it)

 

[AntonG42O]

alright even if anti-inflammatories did slow down protein sythesis, what do you care if you got a bum knee?? you need to reduce the swelling and the inflammation done by some kind of overuse. there are no blood vessels in that cartilage, making it almost impossible for the body to get to it and rebuild. ibuprofen does what you need it to.

 

[illgixxer]

Previously(and still finishing up) using "Move Free" made by Schiff had these ingredients and quanities:

glucosamine hydrochloride: 1500mg
MSM: 1500mg
Chondroitin Sulfate: 200mg
uniflex proprietary extract: chinese scullcap and black catechu
joint fluid(hyaluronic acid): 3.3mg

New supplement called TriFlex from GNC has:

100mg sodium
glucosamine hydrochloride: 1500mg
chondroitin sulfate: 1200mg
MSM: 900mg

So the main difference is it has 6x the amount of chondroitin and 600mg less MSM. Excited to see if it'll make a difference. I will take ibuprofen before bed.

this article talks about the effects of ibuprofen on building muscle:

http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/painkillers.htm