Buckling of the kneecap

[AsWeCit]

I developed what was diagnosed as severe chondromalacia of the patella by a knee specialist in February. I could barely walk and the pain was heavy. I was told to RICE and given some PT exercises. 3 months later after no improvement I went back and got another examination and also got an MRI done. The MRI showed nothing was torn or broken. The specialist gave the same RICE recommendation, and a few new PT exercises.

I have spent the last 4 months trying different RICE methods, stretching vs. not stretching, doing the PT exercises even when it causes more irritation vs. not doing PT. I have tried a variety of knee braces and taping of the kneecap. Nothing has helped, and everyday walking continues to be very difficult. Standing for long periods of time has become difficult that I now wear a compression knee sleeve on my strong leg because that knee is beginning to strain from carrying more weight.

Aside from the pain from the irritation under my kneecap of the weak leg, I notice my kneecap is buckling each time I go from a bent sitting to position, to standing up.

Has anyone had experience with this buckling before?

Any recommendations on how to correct it?

It is my understanding that I need to strengthen my PT band and hip flexors to get the knee back on track. But in the past few months doing these exercises causes more irritation.

Walking has consistently been very difficult for the last 6 months. At this point I am just looking for any recommendations to have a better day tomorrow, one step at a time. I currently wear a Cho Pat double knee strap that does provide more comfort while standing than other braces in the past, but does nothing to help correct the knee from buckling.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice offered from your experiences.

[SociallyChallenged]

Buckling can be caused by 1) having a bad position initially (valgus position - i.e. feet outside the knees), 2) pain inhibition, 3) weakness. Pain inhibition occurs when your body is experiencing pain. Many times, the body will down-regulate input to the musculature around it to reduce the amount of force it bears. It is effective in some right, but leads to dysfunction. Weakness speaks for itself.

There is no way to magically fix this. As always, you need to go see a physical therapist for true PT and PT exercises. This is my last post in any of your threads until you go see one.

[AsWeCit]

Thank you for your input. I understand there is no magical way to fix this (this has been going on for 9 months now). I have gone to see a PT, twice. I tried to do these exercises in the evening, before bed because the exercising would aggravated the injury, and then next morning I would wake up wishing I had not done them.

I have heard and tried both sides of this dilemma many times....

-keep doing the PT and push through the pain to strengthen
-stop doing the PT until the pain and irritation goes away.

In the last month I have notice the pain is slightly less, but the kneecap is buckling more.

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally Posted by AsWeCit

Thank you for your input. I understand there is no magical way to fix this (this has been going on for 9 months now). I have gone to see a PT, twice. I tried to do these exercises in the evening, before bed because the exercising would aggravated the injury, and then next morning I would wake up wishing I had not done them.

I have heard and tried both sides of this dilemma many times....

-keep doing the PT and push through the pain to strengthen
-stop doing the PT until the pain and irritation goes away.

In the last month I have notice the pain is slightly less, but the kneecap is buckling more.

You've seen a PT twice? Physical therapy isn't a one-visit kind of thing. It's a 2-3 times per week for 4-6 weeks kind of thing. Exercise is only one tiny portion of PT - you need neuromuscular re-education and manual therapy (hands on) work.

[AsWeCit]

Understood. And while I agree that this would be the most logical remedy, unfortunantly I am not in a position where I can afford to vist PT this frequently. I only reach out to this forum because I want to believe that there are other who are or have been in similar situations, and hopefully seeking a way to recover on their own with proper advice from peers. I have gotten to the point now where the pain is controlled, however the main issue is the buckling of the knee. The more I go from the bent position to straight (causing the buckle), the more irritated the area gets. I have found that stretching the handstring frequently does ease the pain. I am gaining strength back in the leg as a whole, now it just comes down to getting the kneecap back on track and reduce buckling.

Also, weird thing, it rained overnight, the barometer dropped, and I woke up to my knee really hurting. Ive heard old stories about feeling it in your bones when the pressure drop, but I didnt think id get that 70 yr old feeling at 26.