Haven't got a clue, but wanted you to know you had been read this morning.
Hope someone has an answer!

Hugs, DeeTee
________________________________
DeeTee and Bob Taggart
http://www.marykay.com/dtaggart3
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8fwov/
________________________________

I found this on  a website having a look for what this was:

"Patello femoral stress syndrome, "runner's knee" and chondromalacia are all
different names for the same type of pain: chronic pain behind or around
your kneecap that makes walking up and down stairs difficult."

I was diagnosed with this as Chondromalacia when I was in grad school in
Boston and riding my bike and walking a lot.  They told me at Harvard's Free
Ortho Clinic that the best think for this was to have your quad muscles in
excellent shape as then your kneecap has less chance of floating. It was
described to me as the kneecap rubbing against the femoral bones. And it is
especially likely to rub in this misaligned way if you have wide hips and
loose muscles. Then the floating and misalignment make this rubbing more
likely. I was also told that once it rubbed to a certain amount it would
quit hurting because it would be rubbed off enough it wouldn't touch any
more. Not too scientific huh? But anyway, I did the quad exercises
religiously, got orthotics (also recommended) and wore them religiously and
it eventually quit bothering me for the next 10 years. That is until I had
RA dx and by then all bets were off! Stairs bother me and a Baker's Cyst in
that same knee that comes and go but that's about all.

Hi gang.  I saw my ortho yesterday to check on my feet and discuss my knees.
The good news is that my feet are doing as well as they can.  But as far as
my knees are concerned, he said the primary source of my pain was not the
torn and missing cartilage, but patella-femoral syndrome.

He also indicated that there is no effective treatment for it.  He did say
that some orthos are replacing the patella, but that the success rate is
poor.  He won't do it.

Now, the last thing I want is another surgery, but I was wondering if anyone
here had found anything else that helped?

Thanks!

Walt Hanks

--------------
The true purpose of life is the perfection of humanity through individual
effort, under the guidance of God's inspiration.
Real life is response to the best within us. To be alive only to appetite,
pleasure, pride, money-making, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and
love, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God and eternal hopes, is to deprive
one's self of the real joy of living.
David O McKay, 1963

hi walt!  i know you said surgery is the last thing you want and i can't
blame you for that.  i do have a friend of 30 years who when shaving his
kneecap didn't work, had the knee cap removed with no prosthetic replacement
and he's done quite well---though i still consider that a bit drastic.

i watched a u of w presentation, just last week, on atheletic injuries to
the knee.   you're situation (patella-femoral syndrome, caused by one side
of the knee being weaker than the other) was one of them.  simple, proper
alignment PT exercises (which conditioned the patient to be consciously
aware of leg-knee alignment) were recommended to strengthen the weakened
(anterior, i think it was) muscles that causes the mis-tracking of the
kneecap.  so, i'm suggesting that you find a "sports injury specialist
physical therapist", to help you with your painful problem.  it might help
you avoid surgery.

kate

Hi Walt,

My daughter has just been diagnosed with patellofemoral syndrome, and
hypermobility syndrome.  The Pedi Rheumie told us that she can control
this with physical therapy and lots of exercise.  He said it's very
common with active young adults.

I know others have suggested PT, but thought I would share my
experience anyway.

Take care.
Bonnie

Haven't got a clue either. You are suppose to have
something easy to fix. Now stop that. ;)
Duckie

I have this and so does my husband.  There are some quad strengthening
exercises that help... and ice and motrin when flaring.
My husband and I were both diagnosed young.... myself around 9 yo and hubby
14

Nicole

Walt,

Wishing you the best outcome which ever route you take. I hope all works out
great for you with the knees.

As far as PT goes, the replies have hit a lot of the basics.  Exercises
including lateral leg stretching, inner thigh and medial quad strengthening,
joint conservation education, and patellar mobilization are helpful.  Also,
check to see if you can find a PT familiar with McConnell taping.  Very
useful for neuromuscular retraining to help your exercises to be more
effective.

Good luck!
Chris Goodwin PT, OCS