I had patella-femoral syndrome a few years ago. It was so bad that the left side of my patella was sticking up! I know, pleasant huh! I went to PT for it and they found that my VMO was not firing and that my VL and IT Band were extremely tight.; thus causing improper tracking of my patella. It was tracking laterally and basically the patella was rubbing over the epicondyle of the femur instead of the groove. They worked on increasing the strength of my VMO through e-stim and resistance exercises and then did a variety of soft-tissue techniques to release the lateral side of my leg (ART, Graston, deep tissue massage). They also tapped my knee cap down so that it didn't track incorrectly and cause pain. I used the tapping anytime I was running or working out. With all this being said, rehab was pretty easy and recovery was quick. As long as they know what is causing the issues and how to treat it correctly, you should be fine. I would caution you however to avoid any exercise that causes pain. If you exercise and your patella is not tracking correctly (rubbing over the bone), you have the potential to cause damage. Hopefully the tapping and resistance exercises will get you back up and running (literally) soon. But if not, you should be able to continue with resistance training and at least swimming. Treat it correctly now and avoid a long recovery, no recovery, or further damage. It is frustrating, as any injury is, but it's just a phase. You'll be back up soon.
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