[at-l] Trick knee?

[hudsom at us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

<<
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
   Knee Symptoms: ??Giving Way (Instability)                                
                                                                            
                                                                            
   If it feels as if your knee was going to give out from underneath your   
   body, you should seek medical help for further evaluation. Giving away   
   may be due to five major reasons.                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            
   The first is a tear of your cartilage rings called menisci. This type of 
   giving away is usually a feeling of instability of your knee especially  
   with squatting or descending stairs.                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
   The second is due to a tear of your cruciate ligaments located in the    
   center of your knee. This is more of a true giving away with an actual   
   buckling of your knee. Most people have had some sort of major injury to 
   their knee associated with of swelling. If this is occurring often, you  
   can usually predict when it is going to happen such as rapid pivoting or 
   cutting movements. Click here to learn more about ACL tears.             
                                                                            
                                                                            
   The third reason that your knee could give way is because you have a     
   tear of your collateral ligaments. There are two major collateral        
   ligaments - the MCL (on the inside of your knee) and the LCL (on the     
   outside of your knee). Your MCL is the one most commonly torn, and       
   sometimes it tears when the ACL does as well.                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
   The fourth reason is usually due to problems with your kneecap (patella) 
   moving out of its groove on the femur. This is usually associated with a 
   sudden click to the kneecap and a feeling of it going back into the      
   groove. This is called patellar instability.                             
                                                                            
                                                                            
   The fifth reason is usually due to the catching of the uneven surfaces   
   of your joint from arthritis. The grooves and dips in your worn          
   cartilage catches and produces a feeling of giving away. These episodes  
   are unpredictable, but can occur with attempts at squatting or getting   
   up from a chair. Occasionally a free-floating piece of calcified         
   cartilage called a loose body or a "joint mouse" may become caught in    
   your joint producing a giving away or locking feeling.>>                 
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
   Lots more info at <<                                                     
   http://www.jointhealing.com/pages/knee/knee_symptoms.html>>              
                                                                            
                                                                            
   By the way, I've been seeing quite a few thru-hikers this year with the  
   Cho-Pat type knee straps <<                                              
   https://secure.cho-pat.com/products/product.php?product_type=26 for a    
   picture>>. They say they help, so maybe I need to try them too...        
                                                                            
                                                                            
   skeeter