"Runner's Knee" After Long Periods of Driving

QUESTION: I am a salesman, spending long periods driving through my
territory. Lately, after such a drive, I experience a piercing pain around my
left knee when I exit my car. After a careful exam, my doctor called this a
"runner's knee" despite the fact that I do not run or jog and only play tennis
on a rather irregular basis. Is it possible for you to validate my
physician's diagnosis?
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ANSWER: I must assume your physician ran all the necessary tests and x-rays
in addition to the careful examination you mention before making this
diagnosis. If I am correct he probably also discussed some muscle weakness
with you, for runner's knee is a form of anterior knee pain seen frequently in
athletes that causes the type of pain you describe, in which there is a
weakening of one of the muscles of the thigh (vastus lateralis). It falls
into the category of overuse syndromes, but many types of conditions are
grouped together and the rather inaccurate name of chondromalacia patellae is
applied to them all. I know of your complaint as the "theatre symptom," as it
occurs as well after long periods of sitting with the knee flexed at movies or
concerts. Sports physicians believe the pain arises from the imbalance in the
alignment of the patella (kneecap) because the inner thigh muscle is too weak
to keep the cap in its proper place. A series of special exercises are in
order, or the use of a muscle stimulator to get this muscle back in shape. If
both your doctor and I am correct, the condition should improve in two or
three months.