help my knee hurts

[humanFish]

The doc said last year that I may have condramalasia patelum. I think that's spelled right.
Anyway, I have never had any knee problems before this. It went away after about 6 months, no more pain anymoer, but now that I am back to diving more (I didn't dive much when the pain went away, but was still active and hard on my knees, no pain) my knee is hurting again and now the right knee is starting to hurt too, it never did before.

Could this condition sbe caused by the modified position of my knees while cave diving or from walking around and up and down stairs in my steel doubles?

I have started wearing my neoprene knee cap stabalizing brace on my left knee when I dive and there is no pain. Guess I'll have to get one for my right knee.

What about cortison shots, will this help. I don't want to have surgery, last resort cu I'd be out of diving for a long recovery.

Help me!

Hey Wendy,

Same story here about the diagnosis...right knee for me but this was caused from snowboarding, not diving. I cured mine in that it hasn't come back for 18 months. Here's how I did it:

First of all, stay off it as much as possible for 3-4 weeks. You don't want to continue to exasperate the damage.

Afterwards, start riding a bicycle...just easy riding..can be a stationary bike as well. Slowly, over time, increase the tension or distance you are riding. Once you have this down, start doing quad strengthening leg presses, lunges, and so forth..but avoid the one where you lift your leg from a sitting position with weights on your ankle...that is not a good one for this....

Also, if you are not vegetarian...eat lots of chicken on the bone....there are lots of esoteric molecules and cartilage building elements in their. Also, taking a glucosamine supplement is highly recommended. Keep excercing those legs....

The science behind this is this: 1) Let your body heal 2) Start strengthening the muscles that support the knee 3) Rebuild/Repair some of that cartilage that has been damaged.

hope that helps....

 

[Wendy]

went to the doc and asked for a script for a knee cap stabalizing brace. I got it! Now I have one for each knee and they are neoprene and can be worn while diving. I have been wearing the left one while diving the past 2 months and its really helped with the load bearing of my 100 lbs of gear. So I'll only wear them while diving, and do my exercises.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[SubMariner]

Growing old generally sucks, but watch the NSAID's. Not good for your liver. Tylenol has a both a short term max dosage and a LIFE TIME LIMIT.

Be real careful about NSAID's and alcohol, real easy to "poke a hole" in your liver.

The only problem with Tylenol (et al) is that is has no anti-imflammatory properties; so while it may help with some of the pain, it doesn't manage the inflammation at all (which is generally the source of the pain).

Knee problems SUCK! :froggy: