Hi everybody!

I’m looking for some new ideas how to treat the medial knee pain. The pain is occurring in the inner side of the knee in the lower part of the patella (or rather between the kneecap and femur). I’m really into anatomy and biomechanics but I’m not a physiotherapist and like to learn also from the experiences of other people. The pain is quite significant when squatting/lunging with external rotation, especially with heavy load. There is no pain if I create internal rotation (knee collapse) during the squat or lunge. The placement of the pain may suggest the medial synovial plica irritation or the medial patellar retinaculum irritation (I feel pain during palpation). I found also trigger points in my VMO (just above knee and higher in the inside of the thigh) which generates pain in the same place within the medial knee region. I have strong glutes and very good mobility. It is clear that the main factor is overload but I’m interested if someone had the same problem and how was dealing with it. External femoral rotation increases forces in the medial side patellar contact but as I know the more common is the opposite situation (valgus collapse and its after effects). Right know I decided to taper my lower body training and focus on my VMO as I feel working with the trigger points helps a bit. I’m not sure how about vastus lateralis? I was thinking that strengthening of this muscle can prevent from excessive medial side pattelar contact but couldn’t find any studies which show that it can be really beneficial. Isolating this muscle is also quite difficult.I’m also working to increase my terminal knee extension as I see it should be improved.

Any experiences or ideas?

PS: If something is unclear don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m not native English speaker 😉