dislocated knee, how do I get my knee cap back in its groove?

I have hyper flexible joints. (I was a great gymnast back in the day). The genetic term escapes me, but there is one. My knees, elbows, wrists, fingers, and hips can "pop" out. Every time they have in the past they pop right back in. Not today.

Today I worked in an office in a chair..with my right leg folded under my butt. I know I know I know. I worked a 12 hour shift.

When I got up to leave work my knee popped out. It will not pop back in and is extremely painful if I bear weight on it.

I will not go to the ER because I do not take pain pills and know from my daughter (who inherited loosey goosey joints from me and has had numerous knee dislocations they prescribe ice, elevation and pain pills and give you crutches).

So any ideas on how to get my knee cap back in its groove? I know once it is back in place it will be sore, but right now I cannot straighten it out and when I walk I have to walk on my toes on the affected side.

HELP! Please dont tell me the ER. I wont go. It is a waste of money. If it is still out Monday I will make an appointment with my doctor. I just want my knee cap to go back where it belongs.

No, the circulation is not compromised. No numbness or tingling. No discoloration.

It looks like it slid down instead of to the side like it normally does.

Thank you in advance...

reply to post by k21968

How to Relocate a Dislocated Kneecap

Here’s how to put a dislocated kneecap back in place:
1.If possible, ask someone to help. Your leg will need to flex and straighten, and it’s best to have someone do that for you. Straightening your leg on your own requires contracting the quadriceps muscle in your thigh. That tightens the tendon that connects to your kneecap. The tighter the tendon, the harder it is for the kneecap to move back into place.
2.Flex your hip by sitting. If you’re lying down grab around your thigh and pull it toward you about 30 degrees or so. This relaxes your quadriceps muscle a bit, which loosens that tendon I mentioned in step 1. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the “Anatomy” section of my post on Osgood-Schlatter disease.)
3.Have someone slowly straighten the knee while the hip is bent. Or do it yourself if no one is available. Apply gentle pressure to the side of the kneecap to try to tease it back in place.
4.Go slowly. You can try several times, but never force it since you could break something or make an already broken bone much worse.

After the kneecap is back in place:
1.Wrap it with an elastic bandage or use a knee brace. This does little or nothing to keep the kneecap in place, but moderate compression can keep the swelling down.
2.Stay off of your injured leg if you can and apply ice packs, if available, for 10 minutes at a time intermittently. Use a cane or crutches.
3.Get to a doctor as soon as possible for further evaluation to see what is torn or broken.
4.Expect it may happen again—maybe not right away, but somewhere down the road. If it dislocates over and over again, you’re going to need surgery to keep that from happening.

www.thesurvivaldoctor.com...

reply to post by Akragon


that doesnt sound too bad..i am going to give it a try...this really hurts

OMG, that happened to me once, worst pain of my life.

Dr, gave me 2 demerol horse pills, after 5 minutes the pain eased.

The ER Dr came over, asked if I felt any pain, I told him a lot less and while I was going to mumble on, he popped it back in. lifting up, and over the knee bone.

Its called the Patella!!

good luck, I am praying for you!!

reply to post by AbleEndangered


ok your method sounds a lot more painful! lol

reply to post by k21968


i don't see how your typing, they must be extra flexible. I was nearly in shock from it.

I impacted the left side of my left knee and it popped out to the left side of my leg.

what maybe you need to do.

Is get your leg warmed up and flexible, maybe a heating pad, but that can work against you for the pain, when Ice would be better but Ice will contract the muscle.

Get the leg muscled warmed up and get someone to tug your leg gently holding your calf and foot. really just a good grip on calf, while person is gently extending your leg, you can maybe work the kneecap up and into its spot.

Its gonna hurt, so some ice after ward to reduce swelling from trauma, and ibuprofen.

give that a thought....

When the Dr. did mine he was real quick and precise Like a second and it was in. I turned away and mumbled to the nurse and he did it while I was distracted.

reply to post by AbleEndangered


Like I said mine pop out all of the time. I am kind of used to that pain honestly. I am not used to it not going back in. My slides easily because my tendons ligaments are stretched from having it happen over my entire life. Which makes it slide out easier. I could have surgery to tighten them but I opted not to. I dont like pills and doctors and surgery.

I am in pain. Probably a 7 out of 10, but, I am trying to take my mind off of it. Hopefully the muscles will relax tonight and release it and it will slide back in.

A girl can dream..I am not sure sleep is in the cards.

reply to post by AbleEndangered


I am massaging the thigh muscle right now. I also have very tight hamstrings and super weak thigh muscles which make this worse. LOL I hope if I release the hamstring and thigh muscle the knee cap can slide back where it needs to go.

It is hard to relax when it hurts though. I am going to soak in a hot hot hot tub for a while and then do some massage after that too and hopefully it will work.

It doesnt help that I did a lot of damage to my joints when I did gymnastics for 12 years. Your body takes a pounding and you dont realize it until you are older the damage that is done.

My daughter did gymnastics too. She was naturally good at it. That is the part of this that stinks. You are good at it, but it is not good for you.

We didnt know she had it until her knee dislocated when she was 13. She quit at 15. She misses it but not the constant needle aspirations of fluid from her knee cap. The ortho doc told her if she kept it up he would have to do a knee replacement before she was 25!!! She quit that day.

Yeah, when it happened to me, all the muscles in my leg tensed up. I had to fight that tension. The more tension, the more pain.

Gentle massage, maybe squeezing the back of the knee a little might force it up.gently work it up, not down.

This sounds crazy, but you might be able to push it back out from the back the knee. might be too painful tho.

I don't think you will make it through the night. If you do fall asleep, the pain you will wake up and will be awful. From the tension. The sooner the better on this.

aww, yeah its hereditary. An Orthopedic told me to bicycle ride a lot. It strengthens the muscle that is weak, that is allowing it to happen. Would be helpful for you and your daughter, might get her back into it. Seen the Orthopedic on a referral from the ER. Then a lot of Physical Therapy which was nice, ultrasound massage therapies on the injury. was pretty cool.

My injury happened on the job, so I wasn't afraid of costs. It was the kind of job that needs workmen comp insurance.

Not sure how it works in your state, but even tho it happened at work, it still may fall under workmens comp, since it happened while you were stretching from sitting in one position for so long in an office environment, or other similar scenario..wink wink...

I did strengthen that muscle the Dr was talking about and it hasn't happened since. I am a bit less active tho now, but knocking on wood! Doc said if you look at Lance armstrongs knees and he has those small bulging muscles right above the knee, those are hte ones to work on. So that might be helpful too.

You might be able to pull the kneecap back to you, by pulling on that muscle, if you need reference, just google: Bicyclist knees. and that bulging muscle above knee.

If you drag the muscle back to you, without pushing on the top of the knee, you might be able to pull it back to you a little then out, whatever it might be hooked on, maybe top of shin bone. If it went it, it will come out!

reply to post by AbleEndangered


Quadriceps. That is the muscle I have that is so weak. I have calves though that would make any body builder jealous! LOL That is why my knees are so bad. All of my power is in my feet and calves. My thighs are so weak.

My parents always joked that I was some genetic freak. I have lots of weird things. Severe environmental allergies. Scoliosis. Hyper mobile joints. But lots of testing later, they are not related. I am just a mixed bag of genetic freakiness.

LOL

Yeah those muscles. If you were to press down on that muscle without pressing down on the knee cap, or anywhere near it. So you would be pressing on your lower thigh before you get to the knee. Then, while pressing, you slide the muscle towards your upper thigh.

This might pull your knee cap. Think your kneecap is connected to a rope, and the muscle is the rope. So the more you pull that muscle back, its pulling the knee out. and heating pad would help.

I have a similar mix of hyper extension and back issues, or someone in the family has it

reply to post by k21968

When the pain of the injury becomes greater than the fear of the cure, you will go. Have you thought about a chiropractor? They pop things back in for a living.

Once I had a popped rib from a football game and it pulled my head to one side. I was in a lot of pain, I could hardly breathe. He massaged the rib and then "POP" it went back into place. I don't pretend to understand how he did it, but it was without needles or pain pills.

You could call one and see what they say.

Ugh....If that happened to me, I would go get a doctor who knows how to fix it. I may not be much for taking pills long term but I do go to specialists to get things like that fixed. I usually wait a couple of weeks before going though, many times things fix themselves. In this case, it has to be put back in place. It isn't like a thumb or finger popping out of socket, there are some nerves under that cap..

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest - *you go see a doctor*.

LOL!

Otherwise, I hope you heal soon and feel better.

reply to post by k21968


Ligaments and tendons surround all your joints and they''re what keep your joints held together, or in alignment. Any time you dislocate anything, the longer it is left in a dislocated position, the more damage you do to that joint. The longer you take a wait and see approach, the more these ligaments and tendons stretch and the easier it will be for this to happen again, and again. Ask anyone who has dislocated their shoulder how easily it pops in and out the second, third, fourth time.
I know you don't want to hear go to the hospital, but how about a walk in clinic or urgent care center? I don't suggest you leave this until Monday or you could permanently screw up your knee. As I said, I know that's not what you wanted to hear but red flags went up when I read your post. I don't know your age, but by treating a dislocation early, you can save yourself a lifetime of grief.

reply to post by k21968


If you are not paralyzed on the ground then it didn't pop out all the way. Used to happen to me a lot to the point that even now I will not ever sit cross legged. It's so painful and scary. I remember one time I just laid on the ground for an hour and a half with my knee bent afraid to move. Don't wait just DO it.

It will pop back in pretty easy if you just straighten your leg out. You'll know when it pops back in. After that I'd put on an ace bandage or knee brace. If you have anyone else around it's a lot less scary to get them to force your leg straight.

After this I would recommend strengthening the muscles around the knee. This has helped me a great deal and after having maybe 20 knee dislocations I havn't had one in 3 years.

reply to post by Dustytoad


I meant to describe tug on leg, but hit hit "B" key. so it was tub. Well the tub will help before a tug if she can make it in.

Thats pretty much what the ER will do after some pain meds.

I do feel stress there if I cross my legs, on the injury. It holds tho. Got me double thinking ever doing it again now!



good luck k219!

What about a chiropractor?
They pop bones into place.
Or a physiotherapist might know how to.

My arm is half out of its socket called subluxation. I have to prop the elbow or wear a sling to push it in, but it doesn't stay there once I remove any support.

Maybe a warm bath might loosen things up.

LOL.

Ask the people who post opinions on a conspiracy website.

Are you serious?

A. go see a "real" doctor.

B. go see a "real" psychiatrist.

(rolling my eyes (again))