can you get knee surgery?!

June 19, 2003

hey everyone,

ive had patellafemoral syndrome for 6 years now(im 15)..since i was in

gymnastics and dance....and i went to 2 doctors and they of course

diagnosed me(i went recently about a year ago) and they tell me that

physcial therapy will help..and i went for a week and thought to

myself its a waste of my parents money when i can do the workouts

myself...i weight lift and i work my inner thighs since the doc told

me that my inner thigh muscle is weaker then my outter muscle which

causes my pains etc..well neways.....instead of me doing all this

physical therapy......can you get knee surgery?? jw...ive been

wondering lately because i want to find a doctor..instead of hearing

that i have to keep on doing physcial therapy....thanx everyone so

much!! im so scared!

-anicole87- aka ashley

June 20, 2003

At your age the tissues might heal. Surgery always messes something up, so it's

better for you to keep on doing the PT exercises, and also to not do things that

cause pain. It might take as long as a year, but you'll be better off in the

long run if you fix the problem through PT. It's hard to suddenly shift your

focus to rehab, but if you accept that your life needs to be centered around

rehab and pain avoidance for up to a year, like taking a vacation in a boring

little Arizona town because your parents want to watch the desert plants grow,

you'll be glad in the end that you did.

Ann