>JJane said
>How about knee taping or knee strapping?
As I said at the start, I started with a tape wrap. It worked better than the adjustable braces, but less well than the neoprene stretchy thing. Also, the glue on the [Ace brand] wrap wore off after a couple uses, so it would mean carrying a bulky can of spray glue in the skate bag.
I looked up kinesio taping for knees with tracking problems. Find a page where it showed tape running vertically from above the knee to below it - in other words, I guess it just applies pressure across the front of the knee, like the neoprene thingie. Wanted to try it, but the local medical supply stores don't sell kinesio tape. Would it only help on the maximally bent knee, because it would release tension the rest of the time, or does kinesio tape stretch a lot?
There are a lot of other web pages with fancier kinesio taping around the knee. They seem pretty complicated, and it looks like I would need a lot of medical knowledge, and an expensive expert diagnosis, to use the right one. Without knowledge, I fear to do more harm than good.
I do have a several year old diagnosis by a sports PT/ATC that I didn't have enough sideways (lateral/medial direction) muscle tension in the psoas, obliques, gluts, the whole hip flexor group, and I think the lower back, to keep the knee cap on track. He said I predominantly use quad and hamstring muscles, which aren't enough to stabilize kneecap position. He also said under-use of the other muscles meant they would not warm up, and therefore would not stretch adequately, and that this was consistent with my entire injury history.
But that was years ago, and I only went once. He had great references, is an athlete himself who said he had worked with many skaters and dancers, but he charged $100 for 30 - 40 minutes, and is over 6 hours away by car. I assume any PT would need many weeks or months of work with me to figure out what methods would work. I don't have knowledge or or confidence in the local PTs.
Besides, that PT/ATC favored exercises, to force me to use the alternate muscles, mostly long-held leg lifts to all extents and in all directions, while consciously using the other other muscles to supplement quads and hamstrings. I would feel guilty going back to him and admitting I have mostly stopped doing those exercises.
I don't think kinesio taping was common when he gave the diagnosis, but might be wrong.