Knee Valgus Deformity

[skibum4ever]

So after various operations and a ton of physical therapy, my therapist finally diagnosed me today with a left knee valgus deformity.

The right leg is OK, probably due to the extensive hardware surrounding and straightening the knee.

I don't know how long I've had this or what caused it. My therapist told me a number of problems this condition could cause: weakness and knee stiffness, limp, poor balance, etc. etc. See referenced article. He says my skiing would improve if it were fixed.

Here's the article I found:

Knees Caving In When Squatting/Jumping? Here’s Your Fix for Knee Valgus — Trifecta Therapeutics Sports Rehabilitation & Performance Center

If you polled most athletes and asked them whether or not they’d like to increase their vertical jump, you’d more than likely get a resounding “Yes”. The vertical jump is one of the standards for overall athleticism and can translate well to many sport (and non-sport) related activities.

www.trifectatherapeutics.com

I also posted a photo of my legs below for reference. I have a ton of questions dealing with the implications and treatment.

A "quick" fix could be a TKR. For someone over 70 it might be the best solution. I would certainly do it early next May after the ski season winds down. So I guess that leaves me a lot of time to do research and to worry.

Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? Am I overthinking this? Thanks.

 

[AJM]

Im not sure if I have it or not .... interestingly enough pre accident (2022) my left knee always caved inwards, I think there might even be a pic of it somewhere on here.
What I do know is that a lot of those exercises in the link are what my PT had me doing during my loooooooong rehab and she specifically said my Glute Medial was super weak, when I first started doing "clams" I could only raise my leg a few millimeters but now almost 2 yrs later I've managed to build them up along with my quads and it no longer seems to be a problem. I do know that I used to have all sorts of issues keeping my ski's flat and went down the whole canting of the boots route with no success, all it caused was lateral knee and hip pain but now I have no issues keeping my ski's flat, I even did a quick test yesterday on a flat cat track to see if I could just cruise along with my ski's parallel which is something I could never do, I always ended up on my inside edges.
I'm 60 and its taken a lot of rehab followed up by more physical exercise than I have ever done, mainly hiking esp uphill and paddleboarding over summer where I made a conscious effort not to let my knee cave in so it seems to have paid off and my skiing is the best its ever been .... I just have to keep it up.
I guess what I'm saying is that it might be able to be fixed with concerted PT rather than a TKR xx

 

[skibum4ever]

Thanks @AJM . I am also doing a number of the PT exercises they mentioned.

It's very helpful to hear what other skiers have experienced.

However I'm a bit nervous that the left knee could be more injury prone. And the left knee currently has less ROM and more pain than my right replaced knee. So even prior to this diagnosis I have been thinking that a new left knee was not far away. I will be discussing this with my therapist and my personal trainer. And will probably see an orthopedic surgeon in the coming months.

 

[AJM]

Thanks @AJM . I am also doing a number of the PT exercises they mentioned.

It's very helpful to hear what other skiers have experienced.

However I'm a bit nervous that the left knee could be more injury prone. And the left knee currently has less ROM and more pain than my right replaced knee. So even prior to this diagnosis I have been thinking that a new left knee was not far away. I will be discussing this with my therapist and my personal trainer. And will probably see an orthopedic surgeon in the coming months.

The main conversation in the carpark this season is A) The lack of snow and B) Knees !!!!
Do let us know what you decide to do and how you get on

 

[mustski]

I wonder if this became a “thing” after you had your other knee replaced and all the other surgery. It’s not unusual to favor a leg and it definitely leads to problems.