Knee Pain: Patellofemoral syndrome

Hi all, I'm posting here to join the community and share a Mayo Clinic experience :)

I have been having pain with my knees for years now, and seen a few local specialists in NYC who I told about my history of playing sports, backpacking and active gym going. I always got a 15min rushed appointment crammed in between other appointments. At the last one, the doctor was way late and sent me for an X-ray without even talking to me, and then gave me vague advice "you're young, don't worry, take it easy".

I recently have been working at Mayo Clinic and got my knees checked out again, and the appointment was amazing … The doctor spent an hour talking to me about the history of the pain, exploring different possibilities, showing which diagnostic tests would be useful and why, and asking what kinds of treatments I was interested in. We talked very comfortably and easily without any time pressure. She was able to diagnose the condition (patellofemoral syndrome - a condition of knee cap mis-alignment common amongst people who have played sports for many years) and explain how to treat it. During the appt. together, we consulted with a physiotherapist to modify my workout to adjust the quadriceps exercises to be more therapeutic, and checked with a senior Internist to double check everything as well, all as part of a "routine checkup" !

She ended the session by saying "please email me, or page me, or call me anytime for follow-up and we'll see how things change". Awesome! I feel cared for, and finally had a doctor who was empathetic. It's not a myth, Mayo Clinic really practices a caring, coordinated-team approach.

Here's an article on knee-pain risk factors that I found on our website:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-pain/DS00555/DSECTION=risk%2Dfactors