What is Chondromalacia Patella?
The most common cause of longstanding knee pain is the chondromalacia patella. This condition is named the chondromalacia patella, because the pain is related to how the kneecap or the patella slides over the lower end of the thigh bone (the femur).
Chondromalacia, or chondromalacia patella, refers to softening of the articular cartilage of the kneecap. The disorder occurs most often in young adults and may be caused by trauma, overuse, parts out of alignment, or muscle weakness. Instead of gliding smoothly across the lower end of the thigh bone, the kneecap rubs against it, thereby roughening the cartilage underneath the kneecap. The damage may range from a slight abnormality of the surface of the cartilage to a surface that has been worn away completely to the bone. Traumatic chondromalacia occurs when a blow to the knee cap tears off either a small piece of articular cartilage or a large fragment containing a piece of bone (osteochondral fracture).
This disease is also known as softening of the cartilage of the knee cap or "anterior knee pain". This means that the shiny cartilage surface of the knee cap is softened due to many factors including abnormal pressure across the joint surface or hormonal changes in the body.
