i_like_sun

Good luck with this Weekend Climberz! I've dislocated BOTH patellas at this point (both separate orthopedic tramas) and I've had to become aware of how I move my lower extremity. Your pain sounds a lot worse than mine, but when I do any kind of deep squats with sloppy form then they start to kill. Layton is right on, if it is chondromalacia, fixing the problem by improving the biomehanics of your hips and feet is the way to go. All the successful research says so.

I had the same thing 3 years ago. All I found that didn't kill was light cardio and LIGHT resistance training. I spent a lot of time on machines exercising anything that didn't hurt like shit. Smith machine squats worked out OK too....again, you just can't lift as heavy as you'd like for a few weeks. Just go experiment! If it kills, STOP. If not, why not??

I'm stoked on the bergshrund gap!

Hey I had that same experience of falling into Baker's underground spa and message parlor too!! Great trip report man. I'm inspired!

SOO TRUE!

I go because their beauty makes me orgasm. I'm not joking.

Holy crap Catbirdseat! I'm glad to hear your eye is going to be OK! I think we all take our vision for granted. I've never had metal shards in my eye, but I've had some really nasty eye infections that irritated me to exponential levels.

what? it's better than sugar buger or bugaboo (all things i really do call my kids ) Thats rad Muffs. 10 + years from I'm totally calling my twinkies "Bugaboo"

Hey pal, I happen to love this lady!

Thats because they have the worlds most AMAZING hospitals and medical care. And its dirt cheap.

Thanks Muffs! I went to the doc today and he's got me on an antibiotic run for the next few days. Modern drugs are CRAZY.....I took my first two pills 7 hours ago and my fever has already dropped down. Its been my experience that antibiotics work amazingly fast.

This is the second night in a row that I've been completely sleepless coughing up my alveolar tissue. I've also got body aches that might end me for good......so this could be my last post on this fine website! Anyone else had or having a near death experience???

First thing I'm going to say: I am NOT a computer genious. Second thing: I'm a Mac user, and I do all my university stuff on it. I haven't had any problems with file sharing with profs who use PCs, because all the MS Office products for Macs transition easily. I chose to get this because it is WAY more user friendly, and well, its simply a pleasure to use. PCs just come off as kinda "hatefull" to me. There are way too many popups, and the formating can just drive me crazy.....there are too many "flashy things" jumping all over the place, and it scrambles my brain. On my Mac however, everything is smooth and sexy, and navigating around is a cinch. Oh yeah, it also seems to me that Macs last way longer than PCs. I've seen plenty of high-end PCs go to slow shit simply because of internet viruses and file overload. Whereas all my buddies who have lower end Macs get way more life out of them, and their machines run smoother - its almost as if you don't need as much Ram and memory with a Mac....

Good communication is 90% listening. I feel ya Sherri

Sure. I like dislocated kneecaps even more. Sprayer.

Naaw, WA. sucks. No one should ever move here again. This place blows.

Actually, you'd be surprised at how much you can do on a near zero budget. All you need to do is invest in some good boots and a crappy old subaru, then go to all the used gear swaps for used clothing (or getting a job in a shop that gives you deals is a great idea). Remember, its about the climber, NOT the gear. You also do not need to go to the Himalayas or enroll in a $5000 Nols course to learn to be a great climber. Investing in a few basic mountaineering courses (dare I mention them.....god help me) with the Mountaineers group could be useful. Heck, you'll probably make some like minded friends there! About having climbing companions: yes, you should always have a partner. It can be disaster otherwise. You said there aren't too many 20 year olds into climbing? It sounds like you're in the wrong town hun. I'm 23, and here in the Northwest its almost impossible NOT to create a circle of friends who want to get out into the mountains. Maybe you should move? Or during the summer when you aren't in school, make a point to be a bum up in the cascades and just live out of your car and tent! Its a remarkably fantastic life! Just remember that you can't expect to go climb the biggest mountains right off the bat - its a progression. My last advise would be, just to relax and let it happen. If you are truly passionate about mountaineering, put your soul into it! A good example would Ed Viesters; that guy is from the midwest where there are almost no mountains. He figured out that climbing is what he wanted to do, and well, made it happen! In a huge way! Go read his book "No Shortcuts to the Top" - its actually pretty good. Anyhoo, good luck

Who cares man? In 20 years China will be richer than the US! I know Arcteryx is a Canadian brand, but outsourcing seems kinda hypocritical to me. They started the company based on the idea of local-built quality. NOT mass-produced fashion show. I don't know, who am I kidding. If I could buy all my textbooks from some Chinese factory for $5 a piece I'd do it! Man will always follow the call of money.

Thats pretty good Dr. Layton! Stopping activity right now seems like a bad idea seeing as I can still run on my knee without pain. Its just twisting motions that it doesn't like. I've been doing some research on patellar tracking problems, and the newest stuff seems to make it clear that focusing on proper hip mechanics is a better treatment plan than simply exercising VMO.

Why don't you just go out there and do it? Why all these dramatic words? You don't need your own Discovery Channel time to be hardcore.

I'm guessing eaten. Any sort of Hallucinogen could be useful here. Wait, unless its the evil nigthmare kind.......

Thank Dr. Layton! Can you refresh me a little on what the "P" stands for in RICE? Also, what is a chopat? I have a nifty little CAMP brace that places a constant lateral force on the patella, and that seems to work pretty well.

Anyone have technical experience with these? Basically, I managed to freak my right knee out pretty well after hucking myself off a jump at Baker yesterday. I was throwing backside spins on my snowboard, and on the last one, over-cleared the landing and smashed down in the flats. My body rotated to the left as my right knee stayed put, and I completely compressed. When my knee reached full flexion I felt this really strange pull in my patella followed by a "clicking" sensation as my knee cap settled back against the lateral Capitulum. My symptoms are: mild swelling and tenderness in the MCL / VMO retinaculum. Mild infrapatellar pain when in flexion, and also pain in the superior patellar tendon near the insertion. Besides wobbly patellas, everything else is super tight and I have a well developed vastus medialis. I've done this once before, several years ago...... Today I'm wearing a Camp patellar stabalizer and icing it. I can walk fine, however any kind of squating motion kills it - which is unexpected. I've got a theory as to why this happened: a couple weeks ago I changed my snowboard stance so that my feet are wider, and more externally rotated. This helps tremendously with solid landings and deep powder stability. I am guessing that this increased valgus forces enough to cause a lateral subluxation when I was in full flexion combined with left rotation. The plan is to first take a week off from riding, and change my stance setting to reduce valgus force. Then workout my legs like crazy and avoid flat landings.... Injuries are a bitch. What do you think Mr. Layton?

My mom lost me at a basketball game when I was 5. That freaked the shit out of both she and I! I ended up getting picked up by some empathetic mom who took me to the "speaker room", and at which time they blasted my mom's name across husky stadium. She came running full speed and in tears. Like you, she then took me to get hot cocoa and all was well:)

That's why you've got you're own switch to play with. "ON - OFF" You kill me Sherri.