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Acupuncture for Mal-Tracking Knee

By Archived User | Updated: Dec 31, 2021 | Published: Dec 31, 2021

Hello,

I have chondromalacia (wearing to the cartilage at the back of the patellar) caused by a maltracking patellar

The illio tibial band (ITB) muscle on the outside of the leg is over strong and the vastis medialis oblique (VMO) muscle on the inside is weak and so the knee cap is pulled out of track.

I am currently:

  • exercising to strengthen the inner muscle (VMO)
  • Stretching the ITB to loosen it.
  • And wear orthotics to help re-align things. This is cause

The above is working well - to the the point that I can play tennis with only minor pain. However I wonder whether acupuncture could help alleviate the symptoms completely.

Does anyone have any ideas - in particular is there any way that I could loosen the ITB muscle on the outside of my leg with some dry needling?

I understand that this is common complaint (caused by flat feet!) and so any thoughts would be really useful.

Manyy thanks for your interest

Archived Comments

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

I certainly feel a round of acupuncture treatments would be appropriate. You are doing everything correctly and obviously understand your problem well. Acupuncture has strong effects on inflammation, muscle and tendon tension, and alignment issues. You should find that your ability to loosen the IT band is helped from acupuncture and local inflammation issues will respond allowing the area to settle. Your best bet would be to either couple acupuncture with a massage therapist who has experience and/or specializes in sports massage or see an acupuncturist who is also trained in tuina (the Chinese Medicine loose equivalent to massage and physical therapy in the west).


While not directly related, the points from our acupuncture for arthritis page should be applicable. I would read the article generally and then look at the points listed near the bottom for the knee specifically.


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