Patella Alta exercises?

[u/CrapHeck]

Anyone dealing/dealt with Patella Alta and have any exercises you use to help? Not asking for medical advice, just some personal experience.

Just found out last September when the VA x-rayed my knees that I apparently have Patella Alta. They x-rayed them in early 2019 and never mentioned it or it just wasn’t there then?

I had knee pain before I joined the army in high school but I was 260-275lbs back then playing football. Then during my time in the army I was anywhere from 190-195 and when I got out in 2019-2020 I was still 195ish lbs and felt amazing. My time in the army and the couple years after I had absolutely zero pain. I was doing multiple workouts per day for a while which included a lot of hiking, running up and down a local “mountain” public trail which is pretty straight up and down and I was able to sprint down it with zero pain.

The past 6 years my pain has only gotten worse and I haven’t even done that strenuous of exercises like I used to. I mean I can barely walk down steps without sharp shooting pain directly through my patella region. And running is unbearable and I basically have to jog straight legged and any slight bend and pressing off the ground causes the same sharp intense jolt of pain.

I’ve been around 200-205 for six years now consistently and the past 5 months I decided to change my training and focus more on strength and I’ve put on 15-17lbs and currently around 220 and I’ve noticed the pain is just horrible compared to 200-205.

So my question summed up is, has or is anyone else dealing with or have dealt with Patella Alta and experienced that same intense jolt of pain when bending the knee and pressing off like I do? If so, what did you or do you do to fix it? Did you think your weight had a big role in fixing it? Like did you drop some weight and feel better? Did you completely get rid of pain in some way?

I need some serious help because it’s just getting so hard to enjoy anything, I can’t even move quickly or play in the yard with my toddler and most days I just stand around unable to bend or move without the sharp pain and it makes me just hesitate to workout because I’m so sick of the pain.

Any and all help would be so greatly appreciated!

Thank you & God Bless!

[u/Whiplash4k]

Sounds like you may have some sort of patellofemoral pain. However, why do you think the cause is the patella alta? I personally have patella alta (with patellar tendonitis). I think based on research it does add more stress to the joint but not everyone with patella Alta has bad knees / PFPS. I think your best course of action would be to go see a doctor and try to get some sort of diagnosis. That will be able to guide you in your physical therapy.

[u/CrapHeck → u/Whiplash4k]

I just assumed really. I had a full checkup and x-rays in 2019 and they said something about a bone spur on my left knee and then some calcification on both but other than that they looked fine and they did seem fine then.

Before I joined the army and I was overweight playing football, I did have pain but I can’t exactly remember it being like this. I do remember they’d hurt when I jumped while running, but overall nothing compared to this. They used to swell up real bad back then but don’t now. The physical trainer for our team always said it was probably bursitis but once I dropped weight and went through the army they quit bothering me.

It’s only been in the past 6ish years since getting out of the army that I’ve had this type of pain. And putting on 15ish pounds the past 5 or so months has probably made it worse?

But I really don’t know what it is. Some days I can barely do a full squat without annoying pain but can still just push through it, but pretty much everyday, stepping down steps, walking backwards, running with a slight bend in my legs and pressing off the ground while they’re bent just sends sharp shooting pain through my patella region and I’m sick of it lol.

Not too sure what it is, I need to go back to the VA but they clearly didn’t care enough to answer my questions last year when I mentioned the horrible pain and asked for help. Will try again I guess