Chondromalacia Knee Pain
So you’ve been diagnosed with chondromalacia? What is this condition with this funny name? Well, what it really means is that you are having wearing down of the cartilage under your kneecap. It is a common condition that we see in the physical therapy clinic here in Huntington Beach, CA.
“Symptoms of chondromalacia include knee tenderness and pain that increases after sitting for a prolonged period of time, using stairs or getting out of a chair.”
- Source: Cedars-Sinai.org
What causes chondromalacia knee pain?
There are a lot of factors that could contribute to having knee pain coming from under the kneecap. We see this a lot in our phyiscal therapy clicni. Most of the time when someone is coming into the clinic with chondromalacia knee pain it is due to some movement dysfunction in the hip or foot. What I mean by this is that either the hip or foot (or both) are not providing the correct mobility or stability needed. When these parts don’t do their due share of work, the knee gets stressed more with your daily activities.
What are the symptoms of chondromalacia knee pain?
This type of pain will present with pain in the front of the knee around the kneecap. Because the knee cap has more contact with the femur when the knee is in a bent position, activities with prolonged time in a bent knee position with be more painful. This can include lunges, squats, stairs, bike riding and even just plain sitting. If you are having knee pain after prolonged sitting, it is most likely some kind of issue with your knee cap. This is called patellofemoral pain. It might not be chondromalacia, as there can be another diagnosis, but most likely there is a component of strain at the knee cap causing your pain.
What can I do about chondromalacia knee pain?
In my experience the best way to address any overuse pain is to go after the movement dysfunction. In this case it would be to go after the main dysfunction in the hip or foot. In addition addressing things like weak quads and tight IT bands will be necessary.
If you are having pain in your knee and live near Huntington Beach, CA we can definitely help you out. You can schedule with us right now!
If you live somewhere else I would suggest finding a good physical therapy clinic that will be able to address the movement dysfunctions in the hip and/or foot and not just give you knee exercises to do.
