Question:

I am 18 y/o female who has been suffering from patella femoral syndrome for over 4 years. I am noticeably knock kneed. Lately I have been unable to walk without extreme discomfort. I have seen an orthopedist and he just says anti inflammatory and rest. I`ve been doing both for weeks now and no relief. I have also done all the physical therapy exercises in the past but to no avail. The orthopedist did say the genu valgum is definitely making the symptoms of the patella femoral syndrome worse. We did not discuss more drastic measures of relief, but is there a surgery that could at least correct my genu valgum since apparenly it can`t correct the patella femoral syndrome?

Answer:

Although realignment surgery for genu valgum (knock-knee) deformity can be performed for severe cases, this is a major surgery which is preferably done before bone growth has stopped. Although genu valgum may be contributing to your chronic knee pain symptoms, there may well be other contributing factors, which would ideally be identified and treated prior to any consideration of surgery.

For example, although you state you’ve “done all the physical therapy exercises in the past but to no avail”, failure of these exercises could only be concluded if an examination now failed to reveal any tightness, weakness, or imbalance of specific muscles. If, as is usually the case, such “mechanical” factors are still present to some degree, further exercise – particularly including the hip muscles – with any necessary supervision by a therapist to ensure progress, may be productive. Attention to footwear – including consideration regarding possible benefit from shoe inserts (foot orthoses), weight reduction (if appropriate), and activity modification may also be helpful.

For more information:

Go to the Sports Medicine health topic.