Chronic knee pain

Hello all,

I posted here a few weeks back about my doctor not treating the knee pain I was having. Well, I went and got a second opinion. My new doctor said there were some interesting things going on, including the fact that it seems my kneecap doesn't move. She said in most cases when someone pushes on the kneecap, it gives a little, moving and whatnot. It seems that, for some reason, my kneecap doesn't move at all; she said it "fused" to my femur bone. She gave me a prescription for steroids and offered pain medication and then ave me a referral out to an orthopedic surgeon. I don't know when I'll get an appointment and the whole "fused to the femur" thing has me a little concerned. Has anyone else had this problem or something similar ? I'd just like to put my mind at ease before I go crazy :) Thanks all!

-Cutecarebear

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

I can explain the anatomy of the front of thigh to you.

The bone which you refer as knee cap is called patella and is a sesamoid (bone inside a tendon) bone of the tendon quadriceps. The front of thigh has four muscles and it is referred as quadriceps and it contains a bone inside the tendon called patella or sesamoid bone.
Normally the bone is inside the tendon but when there is some wear or tear or arthritis or some anatomical defect it is attached to femur like patello femoral arthritis.

The orthopedic surgeon will find that out, the reason for your fusion.

Take care!

[cutecarebear]

Dr. Vinod,

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it. I think I can rule out anatomical defect, seeing as I know in previous checkups for my knee problems the doctors have moved the patella around a little bit.

As my pain has never been so bad as it has been these past few weeks, I am wondering if I have just been abusing my knees by not getting treated in a timely fashion, and then the incident in which it became excrutiating to walk was just the last straw that caused my patella to fuse with my femur. The past three weeks have been the worst out of the five years I've been dealing with this, so I am definitely convinced I did something to hurt them, even though that specific day consisted of me just sitting for a long period of time in a cold room.

-Cutecarebear

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

My suggestions are do not bother about why this has taken place as you are being critical on yourself. Take all necessary precautions in the future and you need to diagnose if you have any other associated knee problems. Explain the history to your orthopedician properly and take the right course of action.

Take care!