Hoffa Impingement

Hey guys! I am back with another topic. Given that I injured my knee a month ago, I saw that on MRI is confirmed something called “Hoffa Impingement” or something like that. What is that? How should I approach this? It causes a mild pain below my patella. Should it be treated like any other aches&pains or should it be treated differently? Also, I saw that on MRI I have a diagnosis of “intrabony edem”. I don’t know how should I translate it in english. It gives pain in my shin. I know what I have to do in order to “rehab” shin splints, but is this something different from “shin splints” or is it the same thing? Does it need another approach?

Before we take this further -

Who ordered this MRI? Have they discussed their interpretation and recommendations with you?

Hey, Doc! Thank you very much for your answer.

Well, no one ordered it. I did it by my own because I feared that I had something going on in my knee (my mom had a not so nice experience with her meniscus a couple years ago, so that’s where my fear was coming from. I know, it’s a social factor). I am familiar with your content on pain. Injured my back in the summer, and with your info I was back pain free in less than a week, but this time was different, because injury arised from running, not from lifting weights. Also, the social factor (my mom’s experience and the fact that she told me that my meniscus may be injured and it would aggravate over time) played a huuuge role.

The clinic where I did the MRI gave me the interpretation on email, because I had to left the city for work. I don’t know if it would be helpful to post it here because it’s in romanian. Also, they told me I should see an ortho, which I did. And the ortho told me that I may have Thrombophlebitis (you answered this post I think a week ago). Did not came back to that ortho, because he seemed pretty irresponsible. Told me to stop lifting weights and he told me to buy the treatment and compression socks for T-phlebitis based just on a “suspicion” that I may have that diagnosis. When I told him on the phone that I did the Doppler Test and everything is alright, he said that I may have “something autoimmune”, which also seemed to me an unprofessional and irresponsible assumption. I probably have to see another ortho in order to get recommendations. But something tells me that he would also say that I should stop lifting weights. Here in Romania, I observed that docs are very reluctant about lifting weights and the majority thinks that it will speed up the “wear and tear”. Probably because they don’t lift. Had another back injury in 2018, went to GP and he told me that lifting heavy weights will damage my spine. Spent 3 month on NSAIDs, no weights and the lower back was hurting more. Guess what? Got back to lifting, started over with the empty bar and I was pain free in less than 3 weeks. Sorry for the very long answer, but maybe my history would give you an idea on how I view my current “injury”, if it can be named like that.

Any thoughts on this?

Hoffa’s syndrome / “fat pad impingement” is typically managed through conservative means, similar to our usual advice for many other pain issues in training.

Further input for your questions and imaging interpretation is a level of detail that is best addressed via a consult with our team, though.