Knee pressure and pain

Hi all,

Since a long time ago I've been having pain in my knees. Sometimes the pain is week (like constant pressure on my knee) and sometimes it gets really painful.

The pain is located in two major places - both at the bottom of the patella, one in the exterior side and one in the interior side.
This stress causes me to (almost every few minutes) "throw" my leg forward when sitting, and have a "click" accompanied with pain and sometimes (usually after exercise with the knee bent) a feeling of a dislocation - I feel that something (though I'm not sure if it is the patella or something else) is "explodes" from the bottom-exterior part of the knee to the outside, and immediately been forced back, with a lot of pain.. Sometimes after such "explosions" it is so painful to bend the knee that I don't bend it (though such hard pain is rare and happens only if I really exhaust the knees).

usually when the clicks are occurring in an extension of the knee, the pain is in the exterior part, and when they occur while bending the knee, the pain is in the interior part..

I forgot to write - I'm 19 and a half, and do martial arts (for 8 years already), and I am healthy.

I went (today) to an orthopaedist specializing in knees, and his findings are:
over-flexibility in the body's joints.
right+left knees - proper posture with a Q angle slightly bigger (said about 20 degrees, on the "edge" of the norm), no liquids, range 0-140 with slight patellofemoral squeaks, pain at the end of an extension, sensitivity around the patella, positive wear(/grinding), negative convex

-AKP, patellar tendinitis + CMP

He told me to go to phiso (and requested the physio to work on the patellofemoral joint and strengthening of the VMO). He also gave me NSAIDS (for a possible inflammation in the knees) and recommended a knee-supporter/brace for physical activity.

I should also mention that I have sprained both my ankles a few times the last couple of years (at least twice each ankle, pretty strong sprains.. Took me on one of them more than a couple of months to recover), and he also said I should work on proprioception of the ankles..


I wanted to ask what I could do in the meanwhile at home - it seems most of the physio centres can accept me only in 2 months, and by that time I want to be much better than now...


Thanks a lot,
Ofir,

Sorry for popping this up, but I really need some advice.... Thanks again..

Hi-

Here is what I would recommend... get a foam roller and do SMR (self myofascial release) on a couple key areas. Basically, you roll over the muscles gently and work out the knots and adhesions in the muscle. Start with the quadriceps, especially the medial (center) area. Also do the adductors or inner part of the leg. And finally, roll the glute medius and IT band. This may help take a lot of pressure off the knee.

In addition, I would also do a good ankle rehab program. My bet is you have really tight calves and that is negatively effecting your knees. I usually recommend the HEM sprained ankle treatment for this... You won't need any equipment and you can do it at home.

An exercise you can try at home is called the chair sit. Basically, sit back in a chair slowly. Try to use your glute muscles as much as possible. Once sitting, push through your heels and stand up. try to squeeze your glutes (butt muscles) once you fully stand up. After you get better at this, just lightly tap the chair with your butt on the chair instead of sitting down. Eventually, take the chair away and you will be doing squats. Squats are really great for strengthening the ligaments around the knee.