Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

Does patellofemoral pain mean I can’t squat for the rest of my life? There really isn’t any pain when I squat, but the days following I get an interesting ache in the vmo area/top of knee cap as well as popping when I straighten my leg in certain positions. I’ve been wondering if my knees track too far outside of my feet, it’s very easy for me to keep my knees out, could this mean a glute med/min weakness or tight external rotators?

As well as not squatting for some weeks, I’ve also been strengthening my vmo, i understand that there is only so much i can do because the whole quadricep activates when extending the knee. I love squatting, so this has been bothering me quite a bit, almost seems pointless to continue only doing upper body stuff. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks ya danguses

2

Patellofemoral pain is quite a loose description of a number of things but yes can certainly be caused by knee collapse, general loose joints or other imbalances. There’s no reason why you cant squat again if you can address these though - what has your physio said?

3

I haven’t seen a physio, which is why i’m asking haha, but i’m quite sure my knee cap is tracking laterally and even tilted a small bit laterally. I can almost feel it pop into place when i straighten my leg against no resistance, sharp’ish pain in the knee cap when i get to about 60 degrees of flexion in a one leg squat. I guess i don’t know what kind of answer i was expecting, i just don’t want this to be the end of squatting for me, because i know cartilage damage can easily become degenerative.