Chondromalacia patellae in athletes. Clinical presentation and conservative management.

A comprehensive conservative management program for chondromalacia patella in athletes has been presented. The clinical manifestations and the efficacy of conservative treatment have been documented in the prospective study of 100 consecutive athletes. The over-all success rate was 82%, and 18% were considered to be failures of conservative treatment. Only 8 of these 100 athletes have required surgical treatment. It was concluded that this type of conservative management is effective in the majority of athletes with symptomatic patellofemoral syndromes, and that surgical treatment should be necessary for only the relative few who fail to respond to an adequate trial of conservative treatment.