Subject: RE: Chondromalacia patella Hopefully someone whose been through this will post something meaningful. I've also recently been diagnosed with this inconvenient affliction.
I have a mild case so my Ortho said - no running for 12 weeks. Period. That's a tough pill to swallow but if it means I can get back to normal training after that i may try and stick to that plan. It's grinding of the cartilage with running so there is no recovery from major damage. I'm terrified of not letting it heal while the diagnosis is still "mild".
I'll do some aquabike events in the mean time.
Apparently my onset of this was the result of a gait change due to a broken foot last Fall. I ramped up the training late winter and the loss of dorsiflexion in my right foot manifested in a choppy stride which resulted in my hips adapting to the loss of flexibility which tightened my hip flexors and Psoas. That took my knee somewhat out of aliment and resulted in the patella grinding away at the femur.
So I don't have a knee problem. I have a foot flexibility problem.
I'm doing a ton of PT work to get my core, hips and feet aligned so that my gait goes back on track. (literally ) You really need an individualized program because everyone has different weakness and imbalances the need to modify if you were 'normal" once and now suffer from this.
I'll post a reply in a few weeks as I learn more about this.
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