Treatment

The management of the patient with chondromalacia patellae is difficult, and there is no one specific form of treatment that is universally accepted as a standard of care

Treatment usually involves avoidance of repetitive knee bending and physical recreation. On occasion there is patellar misalignment that requires surgical intervention. If there is severe softening and degeneration of the articular surface, patellectomy is an option: this reduces the risk of future osteoarthritis. Alternatives include immobilisation in plaster and scraping the articular surface at arthroscopy.

Quadriceps muscle strengthening with different exercises significantly reduces anterior knee pain in early cases of CMP.(1)

Reference

1. Bakhtiary AH, Fatemi E. Open versus closed kinetic chain exercises for patellar chondromalacia. Br J Sports Med. 2008 Feb;42(2):99-102; discussion 102.