Doctor/Physical Therapy Rant

So I was diagnosed with Patellafemoral Syndrome. Now the doctor recommends me to go to physical theropy. I was told I will never be able to full squat or dead lift again. My two favorite exercises gone. I just found that really hard to believe that my knee would never be able to perform these movements again.

I went to physical theropy for 4-5 weeks with some ultra sound and ice massage + exercises they had me do. So 5 weeks later, same pain, if not more. I couldn’t see paying 25 dollars a visit twice a week worth it.

I stopped going to physical theropy and never returned their phone calls. I layed off of all activity on it for 2 months but pain was still intense. I went online to check out my knee problem and looked at what was causing it and how the knee worked.

I have been front squatting with a J split, deadlifting and leg extentions from a 45 degree angle to build my quad which helps the knee cap align correctly. I have been taking cold showers and icing my knee right after lifting.

My own progress has been better than a professional physical theropist and the doctor’s recommendations.

I have had similar results with a destroyed bursa in my shoulder and 2 herniated discs in my back. Why is the doctor always wrong? All I get is, stop all activity for 3 months and take buckets of advil.

I’m sure people have had success with physical theropy and the doctors help but I’ve never had a doctor tell me something that helped.

I wish I could get payed over 100 grand a year to say stop activity, ice, take advil and see a physical theropist in 2 weeks.

The only time you’ll see me back at a doctor is for a broken bone or pain when I piss.

your doctor wasn’t wrong your physical therapist was.

Yeah, the way some physical therapists handle things seems to be similar to what doctors used to prescribe heart attack patients: bed rest. Bed rest won’t help that :stuck_out_tongue:

I had a physical therapist tell me to do a prone hip flexion exercise for 75-100 reps to strengthen my left VLO. The VLO functions as a knee extensor, not a hip flexor. Whatever

Yep, what Airtruth says.

There is some good PT out there, they’re just hard to come by. What they did was no better than what an ACE certified guy at a gym would’ve done for a client, and he’s not even a physical therapist.

There is some good advice on this site if you look for it. My understanding is that you have to work your vastus medialis oblique to take up the slack because it’s the first to shut down when there is inflammation.

But do go over what MR wrote on the topic, he’s the knee guy around here. Both articles and his author locker’s room thread.

Oh and I actually was speechless when my physical theropist said light weight high reps will gain strength and low reps high weight will gain size. I just nodded my head.

[quote]naughtybox wrote:
Oh and I actually was speechless when my physical theropist said light weight high reps will gain strength and low reps high weight will gain size. I just nodded my head.[/quote]

Ya, just what I was talking about: ACE-level concept in exercise science is about what all physical therapist have.

Also check out Bill Hartman, he’s got a way better grasp of exercise than most

In general, health care professionals are totally clueless and inept when it comes to activity related issues. I have concluded that, most of the time, you are far better off never going to the doctor at all with your musculoskeletal problems. Just stay the hell away from them.

I personally have never had an experience in which a doctor turned out to be right about something or in which I was helped or edified in any way. The same with PTs, chiros, etc. I’m not saying there aren’t exceptions but health care professionals in general are retarded. Sometimes I wonder if grad schools don’t screen out applicants with IQs over 100

I just wanted to let you guys know that I am a physical therapy student who is currently working at a clinic for the summer and we have recently had a similar case with one of our patients with patellofemoral syndrome.

We did in fact work knee extension from 45 degrees to prevent lateral tracking of the patella and to promote VMO strengthening. So please do not generalize the field as inept because the actions of a few.

[quote]jimmyjames66 wrote:
I just wanted to let you guys know that I am a physical therapy student who is currently working at a clinic for the summer and we have recently had a similar case with one of our patients with patellofemoral syndrome.

We did in fact work knee extension from 45 degrees to prevent lateral tracking of the patella and to promote VMO strengthening. So please do not generalize the field as inept because the actions of a few.[/quote]

Was it successful? How long ago did you do it? I am not here to poke holes in your profession. But if something is a common misconception, that means it isn’t isolated to one person.

In your situation, it may be a common misconception in your field to do that for that type of issue. I don’t know if this is the case, but just because you’ve read it in a book doesn’t mean it’s the best way. We still have a bottomless pit of knowledge as of yet, undiscovered about the human body.

I’d go with a sports medicine doc or a PT in a sports medicine clinic. Maybe even a orthopedist. I think you’ll be MUCH happier with your treatment.

If you’ve toughed it out this far, you could also try this product

http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1533425

“We’ll just give you some cortisone.”

end rant.