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[RC] Rider's Knee Pain - beth gloverHi Kristi; I went to a friend/orthopedic surgeon several years ago because of the riding knee pain. The minute he walked into the room, he said that I have chondromalacia patella too. He told me that his daughter also has it, but never complained until she became an aerobic instructor. He told me that many people have it, but never notice, until they start to do extensive sports that involve flexing of the knee...the English rider's leg position. So that would include people who do tennis, aerobics, martial arts, riding. Since I talked with him, I have done a lot better. What I need to do, is on a very long ride, I bring some Tylenol with me, and take some before a ride. I'm allergic to Ibuprofen, or I might take that. I pay careful attention that my stirrups are equal in length, and I try to ride with them a little longer than I used to. More like dressage, then like hunter jumper. If you have a western type stirrup that might even be better. I also make a point of getti ng off the horse when I feel my knees start to twinge, just to walk for few minutes relieves the pain very quickly. Sometimes to take my legs out of the stirrups and just hang them helps too. This is not an injury, it is more like a conformational defect. Kind of like offset cannons in a horse, sort of. He told me, that it is mother nature's attempt to straighten or align the tendons, in a leg that has a crook in it. If you look, you will see that your kneecaps most likely are angled inward. I guess that most folks are not angled. Mine got really bad after I got kicked and bled into the knee joint. That was the only time I used a brace. It's back to normal now. I use joint supplements/GAGs religiously. My doc told me his daughter had a bunch of braces and they all wound up on the closet floor, they don't fix the problem. He would not do any surgery for it, he recommended the behavioral changes, and those worked fine for me. He didn't charge me a dime either! So don't worry, you can probably just work with it. Good luck to you, hope that helps. Beth Find high-speed ?net deals ? comparison-shop your local providers here. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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