chondromalacia patella

[thaispice]

Originally Posted by Genevieve M

Was diagnosed with this in both knees back in the 90's. The condition was caused when I was hit by a car and landed on my knees as a child.

Had two arthroscopies on each knee over the years. In 2009, there was no more cartilage left in one knee. The pain was excruciating. I had a patello-femoral joint replacement (PFJR), where a titanium device like a doorknob is screwed into the femur. The patella glides over this device.

It was very expensive, but I can do most things. Squats are done with heels really planted into the ground. Skiing is out for me now, but it was never in for me to begin with!

To avoid catastrophe with the other knee, I had a series of synvisc injections in January. Worked pretty well.

Hope this info helps. Good luck with managing this. As long as you are sensible and keep on top of the condition, you will be fine. I may have been able to avoid the PFJR if I had done synvis on that knee. Unfortunately, there was a lot of chaos in my life at that time, so the opportunity was missed.

Genevieve: Wow. I can't believe you went through all that. Thanks for sharing your story. I'm very glad to hear it had a happy ending.