Have been rehabbing right knee and doing OK considering I have the back flare up prob to consider so usually go to PT 2x/week.

For no apparent reason yesterday my left knee started to have this odd sensation on the upper outer lateral side of the patella that something was snaking thru or over a few boney pieces..it's painful and makes me catch my breath for a moment until it passes and occurs again which is every time I weight bear on the left foot.

So I pulled out my crutches and that hurt my back to use, and now I'm mostly weight bearing on right ("bad") knee. What I'm finding out is how numb that leg really is from the knee down as I keep stumbling from not being able to move quickly enough, or pick my foot up quite enough to even clear the grouting in the kitchen floor tile.

Have an appt. with my OSS on Jan 9th re right knee as he's supposed to be away for 2 weeks tho I'll check to see if he's in or not, or if I can see a collegue, or if this keeps up I may go to the ER as it's difficult to get around with both legs affected ~ altho I never realized how much I depend on my left leg for stability and to keep me from tripping over my right foot!!!

At least now I have a better idea how weak my right leg is and what is going on with my foot re spine related issues... got to go and get a cane most likely to help with balance..

**tried using crutch w/left hand but left thumb hurts~

I had that feeling (like a mouse running around) but it was only a torn meniscus. I take it that you have more serious knee problems? Sorry about the imbalance bummer.

It could be that...as far as I know I just have osteoarthritis and misalligned patella (congenital).

It sounds like the osteoarthritis (presumably from the misaligned patella?) has advanced. When Laura and I went to the Alpha Klinik for her lumbar ADR, I had them look at my knees as I'd had problems that a half-dozen or so OSS and therapists had refused to deal with over a decade or so. They showed me the misaligned patellas (both knees) and the grade II/III damage being cause by it. My symptoms sounded very much like yours.

I had the patella on the right realigned surgically back in '91. It was a really prolonged recovery as I couldn't wear the long leg cast for the full 8 weeks because of my low back pain, in fact, wore it 2 weeks and was braced for several months afterwards.

I learned this past summer that the surgery, patella tendon release, done for realigned patella, didn't actually take.. or gradually moved became misaligned again. Definately this knee is weaker in terms of two previous surgeries, altho I've been told because of the status of L4, I'm losing the quad muscle tone to the right surrounding knee area and by strengthening this area, this is all I can do for it at this point.

Because of low back flare ups, I have difficulty doing the exercises prescribed for knees on as regular a basis as is dictated/desired. I do prefer a nonsurgical resolution (or thru exercise) if this is possible. Hopefully it is. Maybe my left knee is just acting up based on the exerecise and/or weight distributed on it during some of exercises....