Remember the Barbie dolls with poseable legs (I have a wife and daughters)? When you posed the legs, it felt like there was a gear in the knees that locked them into position. I've been describing the feeling in my knees for the last few weeks as similar to that.
In the last few days, however, I would describe it simply as pain.
Since all the kids were congested and I was feeling light-headed this weekend, I went to the doctor yesterday morning. While I was there, finding out I had fluid in my ears, I asked about my knees. The pain had been radiating into my shins and hips, too. I suspected it was my fibromyalgia again and they would try to put me on antidepressants again -- they can try, but they can't make me take them.
The doctor took one look at my kneecaps and said, "There's your problem. You have a condition called patella alta." I'm one that's always relieved to find out I'm not crazy.
Patella alta is literally "high kneecaps." My kneecaps do rub against my shin and thigh bones, hence the Barbie effect. And as I've been trying to compensate for the pain, my shins and hips are taking more pressure than they usually do, so they are painful, too.
Well, he could go in and take a Dremel to shave off the parts that are rubbing, but then its just a matter of time before the kneecap starts rubbing again. So, for now, he's given me an anti-inflammatory and told me to exercise my quads.
In the meantime, I'm back on my cane and getting a nice little handicap placard to hang in my car.