lateral tracking of the patella - talk to me about knees, cranks and PE

[mike]

I got diagnosed with the same thing last week, the physio gave me 2 exercises which I havent seen mentioned that might be worth a go!

they're designed to strengthen your arse muscles, as apparently they pull on the outside of your thigh and help the patella sit in the right place. 

One is the 'clam', lying on your side with your hlps pointing just forward of vertical (so your belly button is pointing at the floor a bit), legs bent at about 90 degrees. Then slowly lift & then lower your top leg, making sure it's your bum not your thigh moving it.   Repeat x 20.

Second is the leg raise, again on your side rolled slightly forward (a bit more than before), with legs straight.  Lift and lower top leg.  Repeat x 20.

Surprisingly painful, which must mean it's working, right?  2x daily.

[nikki]

Commiserations, Mike - hope yours gets sorted more efficiently than mine!


'Side arse' action going on here too.

Previous physios had me doing the clam and leg raise exercises intermittently, but I don't think my technique was right and I was feeling the clams tugging my patella in the direction I really didn't want it to go further in. A staff rotation coincided with my last physio session at that hospital though, and the incoming physio sorted that out - am now rolled a bit further forward and can definitely feel it in my gluteus medius. It's gradually getting easier and my range has increased. Keep at it!

If I'm standing and contract gluteus medius I can see how it changes the alignment of my whole leg and improves the position of the knee joint. Suddenly it all makes sense! I try and be mindful of gluteus medius as I'm walking, and that seems to help, too.

Current pain combination in hip and above-and-to-the-side-of-knee is making me wonder if I've got some ITB syndrome stuff going on. Apparently a strong butt helps with that too.

*clenches*

[Cudzoziemiec]

A rare case of "do clench, it does make it better". 

[mike]

tight ITB is definitely a contributor to mine. I've bought a foam* roller and even used it a couple of times.

* foam?? that sounds nice and soft.. More like rock-hard-and-really-painful-plastic.

[nikki]

Lying down is waaaaay too much pain for me at the moment, so I lean against a wall with it between the wall and the appropriate part of my leg.

As a bonus, it leaves hands free for reading a good book - I found a chapter a night of Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland saw me about right 

[Kim]

I've also got rubbish glutes.  Probably related to not walking like a physiotherapist, and recumbent cycling seems to be another way to avoid using them^[1].  The 'clam' thing seemed to help a bit when I was having knee probs.


_{[1] TBH, I'm suspicious that some of these muscles are only ever used as active suspension when downhill off-roading.}

[andrewc]

Lying down is waaaaay too much pain for me at the moment, so I lean against a wall with it between the wall and the appropriate part of my leg.

As a bonus, it leaves hands free for reading a good book - I found a chapter a night of Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland saw me about right 

Paddling around Alaska in an inflatable canoe!   Madness! (still one of my favourite videos)

Have you read Blazing Paddles ?  I could bring my copy down to Long Itch for you.