Topical Ibuprofen

I was at the physio again this evening and she agreed with her colleague that my knee pain is due to relatively mild inflammation of the tendons and that nothing structural appears to be damaged. I'm still below the level of true Iliotibial band or Patelo-femoral pain syndromes although I do get discomfort in the areas affected by those problems. That in itself suggests a general background of irritation and inflammation rather  than a localised overload.

Image stolen from the online shop

She suggested that I try a topical ibuprofen gel since I can't take NSAIDs orally due to the ongoing functional gastritis, although as one might expect, there will be systemic effects if it crosses the skin at all. We discussed the evidence a little and as she said, it's rather weak but worth a try. I quick PubMed search showed that there are few good papers but at least any side effects tend to be minor.