Re: I Feel Your Pain . . .

[Guest guest]

Joe,<br><br>In defense of your PT, I think what

they meant by<br>calling CP a " garbage " diagnosis is

that it is often used as a catch all diagnosis for

anterior knee pain. My PT made similar statements, but she

didn't use the term " garbage " ... she just said it was

over diagnosed. In fact, CP can only be accurately

diagnosed with a scope (an MRI *may* show it, but I'm

unclear on that), and the web page that I wrote about in

a previous post says that it should only be used as

a surgical finding only, not a diagnosis.

<br><br>In any case, many OS's will hear a report of

anterior knee pain, note some crepitus, and call it

chondromalacia. Even if there is some softening of the cartilage,

it is not necessarily the cause of the pain. I'm not

a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but because

cartilage has no nerve endings, I think the only way that

CP can directly play a role in knee pain is if the

source of the pain is subchondral bone. This is not

always the case. The pain can be coming from the soft

tissues surrounding the knee cap that are irritated by a

poorly tracking patella. Hell, OS's have been known to

misdiagnose patellar tendonitis as CP!<br><br>The long and

the short of it is that many people sent to PT's with

CP don't have it at all, or if they do, it's not

what's causing them pain, hence the term " garbage

diagnosis " . <br><br>Tony