Runner's Knee More Health Resource Articles
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When it comes to chondromalacia patella, a.k.a. anterior knee syndrome or "runner's knee,' biology is destiny. Anyone whose foot rolls inward during a stride is a candidate.

Of all the aches and pains that athletes can get, this one's probably the least age-related. And the treatment, which is not complicated or extensive, is the same for everybody from kids to grandparents.

It all starts with the kneecap
In a perfect world, it rides up and down in the V-shaped groove just behind it as you walk, run, or cycle. More typically, though, your foot rolls in, or pronates, as you move from heel-strike to toe-off, and the kneecap ends up scraping along one side of the groove instead of sliding smoothly up and down the middle. The cartilage there doesn't much like getting sort of sandpapered down that way, nor does the back of the kneecap, which begins to weep fluid that in turn produces a feeling of stiffness. And though runners have named the condition, it crops up often among cyclists, not to mention in cleated-shoe sports like soccer and baseball whose footwear can put sideways torque on the knee.

You can diagnose it from the other side of the room: joint hurts, no particular injury caused it, worst going upstairs and downstairs, stiffens after sitting awhile, like it needs to be stretched. That settles it.

Despite what you may have read, arthroscopic surgery helps perhaps one out of 100 sufferers. Mechanically smoothing the rubbing surface of the kneecap can last for six months or so, but unless your biomechanics have changed, it's a borrowed-time fix. Cutting the retinaculum, the connective tissue holding the kneecap in place to loosen it in the groove, is also only temporary.

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