Well the dr finally figured out the problems with my knees. One thing is that some women have a problem with how we walk causing our knee caps to be weak and want to go lateral or something. The main issue is called Trochlea Dysplasia meaning the groove that my patella goes into is too small and has causing my patella to go to the side, causing pain and instability
He says with lots of Physical Therapy and a good knee brace I might be able to continue. He wants me to strengthen the muscles around the knee enough to where I might not have to wear a brace eventually, but because I want to hike in a few weeks, that won’t be possible this quick. I’m not totally sure if a few weeks of training will be enough so I do plan on doing daily hikes in a couple weeks with lots of weight and everything to see how they feel. I don’t really want to go all the way back to the trail and have to come back within a few days, but I’m hopeful that ill be able to manage this problem without too much pain and continue
Dubs' 2013 NOBO Appalachian Trail Hike 