Patella Femoral Syndrome – Natural and Instant Ways You Can Cure Your Knee Pain

Patella Femoral Syndrome is a common condition that involves inflammation of the patellar tendon in the knee that makes the person feel uncomfortable and painful. It is commonly called Runner’s Knee and is often mistaken for another knee condition, Chondromalacia Patellae.

This condition is started by the deterioration of the knee articular cartilage that is located under the patella (knee cap).  Since the cartilage is weaker and softer, there is more pressure placed onto the patella joint that results in the knee cap not moving efficiently along its curved.

As a consequence, people who have this condition would have trouble going up and down stairs, sitting down for a long time and squatting. Sometimes a patient would hear a pop or cracking sound emanating from the knee when they straighten the leg.

Causes of patella femoral syndrome  

- Weak vastus medialis muscle. This muscle is located just above the knee on the inner side. When this muscle is weak, the knee cap cannot effectively move along the trochlear groove (knee groove) and therefore put more uneven pressure along the knee cartilage.

- Too much stress on the joint due to excessive exercise. For example, people who do a lot of running up/down stairs may put a lot of pressure on the joint and eventually cause the cartilage to deteriorate.

- Repetitive activity like squatting down to pick up things, walking up/down steps repeatedly or apply too much force on the knee like kneeling down on your knees for prolonged periods of time.

- Sitting down for too long.

- Poor or weak biomechanics. This is when the normal joint and muscle movements are not normal and are changed due to bad habit or injuries.

- Weak hip muscles. These muscles could change the biomechanics of the knee and cause more force to be applied on the patellofemoral joint.

Symptoms of patellofemoral syndrome:

- Clicking of the knee during movement.

- Pronated or flat feet.

- Sitting down for long periods can be very painful.

- Squatting or doing lunges are painful.

- Lack of range of movement of the knee –especially if you try to bend your knee all the way towards the thigh.

- Difficulty in walking or climbing stairs

Treatment of Patella Femoral Pain Syndrome 

-  See a physical therapist to prescribe you with specific exercises to help improve the biomechanics of the knee and prevent excess pressure on the patellofermoal joint. For instance, he/she may prescribe you with leg strengthening exercises of your quadriceps and gluteal muscles.

- Apply an ice or hot pack onto the knee. Make sure that you should only apply this for around 20 minutes and put if off for 5 minutes and then re-apply back on. This is to ensure that your body won’t adapt to the temperature and therefore maintain increase blood circulation.

- Avoid any movements or activity that may aggravate the condition like climbing stairs or sitting down for too long.

- Use medications that are prescribed from your physician like NSAIDs (Non-Steriodal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs).

- Apply orthotics on your feet to correct any abnormal biomechanics of your knee. If you are not sure what orthotic you need to get then

- Use vitamin supplements to help and increase the healing rate of your knee. Glucosamine could help rebuild your cartilage around your knee cap.