Spring of ’24, I had gotten into running and was getting physically active after being a sedentary person my whole 28 y/o life. Thus, I was feeling confident and set a lofty goal – I was going to climb Sweden’s highest mountain, Kebnekaise (2097m) as proof of my new fitness. I started going to the gym, was exercising and doing leg presses and squats with weights increasing drastically every single week, until… I started feeling something was very, very wrong with my right knee.
An undefined, vague feeling of something being extremely off – I ignored it until I couldn’t. It was big, swollen, and it hurt. And I had never had a sports injury before. I had no clue what to do. In the beginning I was promised it would pass quickly by my local family medicine dr, and that I was going to get to climb the mountain. It was obvious it was not going to happen. I couldn’t walk for more than 10 minutes without it swelling, burning, hurting when I slept and it did not pass. I spent the summer going to physios here in Sweden who really didn’t have a clue what was going on. The first one put me on knee extensions as my only rehab exercise. I didn’t get better. The second one diagnosed me with patellofemoral pain and gave me a new plan. My knee instantly swelled up after following it once, I had to leave the gym and call them midway through my workout in panic. I had a feeling I wasn’t getting the right diagnosis. I was crying constantly, saying no to summer plans with my friends and was convinced my life was ending and that I had been struck by some obscure knee curse no one had ever had before. It was utterly miserable, and the fact that no one knew what to do to help me was the worst part.
Then, I listened to a podcast on patellofemoral pain featuring Claire. I didn’t quite relate to it, but she mentioned fat pad patients and swollen knees and it instinctively felt right. I just knew in my gut that was what I had. I booked an online consultation. Immediately she confirmed what I had already suspected, spoke with great certainty and gave me a rehab plan. She was convinced I was going to get well, and even though I didn’t believe her at all I did exactly as she told me. Every. Single. Beat.
I changed my shoes, iced my knees and wore tape day and night for three months straight. It gradually started feeling better. Rehab exercises were more difficult to find, many times I felt like I couldn’t even do the easiest ones she suggested and that freaked me out and I felt like a hopeless case. It was a rollercoaster of improvements and setbacks for a bit, but after three months with my symptoms stabilizing and finding a basic exercise plan I could do, what I had been waiting for happened – Claire told me to start increasing my step count.
Starting at 2000 steps per day, I started taking silly little walks of 10 minutes every day. Then, the next week, I did 11 minutes per day. The next week I did 13 minutes, etc. However miniscule it felt, I kept at it every single day until eventually I was walking for 30 minutes per day, with no flare ups.
Before I knew it, I could do 60 minutes. Summer came, I was able to join in my partner’s family on small summer adventures and walks I had previously been isolating myself from and life started feeling more hopeful again. The following 6-8 months, I increased weights in the gym, started getting back into running, practiced walking without my strap and tape. Claire was constantly there as a helping hand through emails whenever I had a freakout or a flare up, and always reassured me that it was normal, a part of fat pad healing and that I would recover again. Thanks to her, I always got back on track even when my anxiety got the best of me. My flare ups started to feel predictable and manageable. They didn’t disappear, but got smaller and smaller and I started to learn what triggered them and what didn’t, how to handle them and treat them, and that they would always pass. I wasn’t scared anymore, so I started focusing on living instead of focusing on my injured knee.
Flash forward to summer of 2026.
I actually got to climb that mountain I talked about in the beginning. From being scared of 10 minute walks, I felt I was ready to actually try climbing the mountain that had started it all. I was scared and had a lot of anticipatory anxiety about how the knee would fare beforehand. The hike was difficult even for uninjured people, some turn back, some are rescued by helicopter each year.
First I had to walk 7h with a 12kg backpack to the “base camp”. The day afterwards, the peak itself – 13 gruelling hours that my boyfriend and I both struggled with like crazy. My knees hurt on the long way down and I was convinced I had ruined them for all time and was going back to square one when I came home. But… I kind of decided it was worth it anyway, because I wanted to see cool things. The flare up would pass eventually, even if it was going to take weeks.
So I got back, I waited for my doom, and… it just never came. Two months have passed and my knees are just the way they were before that day. I did it.
I am now in a place where I can say I feel basically completely recovered, and I am so happy I stuck with Claire’s advice and did it religiously even when I felt I wasn’t progressing. Doing so has taught me persistence and given me a newfound love of hiking, since for a bit I had to take the bus from my house to the tube stop instead of walking 9 minutes. It was that bad.
I highly, highly recommend Claire if you are struggling like I was. She’s not only extremely knowledgeable and a true specialist in her field, but also great at instilling hope and giving clear guidance through a long healing journey in a way that has inspired me in my own work as a healthcare provider.
So all I can say is – thank you so so so much Claire!! /M, Sweden
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