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

I played rugby league for 10 years and a majority of that was A and B grade, during that time I suffered countless injuries to the shoulders, collar bones, sternum and especially the knees and ankles. and I agree with most of the above comments.
my left knee will pop out and go back in as the ligaments are all screwed but if it pops out and stays out its cat 8-10 on the pain scale as the patella is pushing into ligaments and tendons that run down and around the knee.
The way I would get mine in was slap it back in i know its archaic but it works.
Take a pic and put it up nothing better than a bulging patella on the side of your leg,lol.

I don't recommend the Daryn Cresswell Method.

Any Relief??

reply to post by AbleEndangered


Its better. It still hurts but I can walk much better. It is not a gruesome dislocation like my daughter has had..I think this is called a subluxation. It just isnt in the groove where it belongs, not sitting to the side of my leg or anything.

I would send a pic but I am too lazy to shave my legs.

reply to post by k21968


Hello fellow mutant! I, too, have slippery joints. I dislocate joints on a near weekly basis, primarily shoulders, hips, toes, and ankles. Only dislocated a knee once. It sucked.

The first thing I do to reset something is to try to reduce the inflammation as much as possible (won't do this with toes though). Alternating ice and heat or just ice alone, taking a NSAID like Advil or Naproxene, and giving them time to reduce swelling. This stuff doesn't work immediately but builds over time so I wait a day or two if possible to reduce as much swelling as I can. The reason why I do this is because there are gaps within the joints. When a dislocation happens, the resulting swelling can cause tissues to fill those gaps and when resetting the joint without reducing that can lead to tearing. Tearing is bad.

Once you get the swelling down and using your other joint as a baseline of normal, slowly straighten your leg while applying gentle pressure on the knee cap to move it back into place. I find that joints have a kind of "memory" almost like they know where they need to go. Keep taking the NSAID and ice/heat for a few days after to avoid re-dislocation.

I've dislocated body parts so many times throughout my life that I have lost count. Slippery joints suck but the hyper-flexibility is still kind of awesome fun to gross people out with, lol.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


Fellow mutant! You made me blow coffee out of my nose! Love it!!

Slippery joints are fun to freak people out. In my teens, I had a lot of fun with it. At 45, not so much! lol

I am taking naproxen which helps with the swelling and fluid accumulation. It is better today. Still not in the groove yet, still subluxating. It is just not in the right place.

Pain is much better today. It is just not stable at all.

Thanks for the laugh fellow mutant.

Dragon12
I don't recommend the Daryn Cresswell Method.

My daughter did that once in cheer leading and once in soccer. Put it back in the exact same way. She said it hurt so bad she wanted relief. The trainer at the soccer field almost passed out. He was kneeling beside her and they were calling an ambulance, and he said the next thing he knew she grabbed her knee cap and put it back. He said he almost fainted. She then stood up, hobbled to the sideline and watched the rest of the game. We took her to the ortho the next morning for mri to make sure she didn't tear any ligaments and she was fine. Just some swelling and pain and bruising.

The time she did it in cheer leading she actually planted her heel on the floor and twisted her hip and put her knee back in place. The entire arena shrieked. She again, got up hobbled to the bench and sat there for the rest of the basketball game.

She is a trooper. LOL She saw mine today and said "GO TO THE HOSPITAL" I said, nah...I am your mom I will put it back eventually. LOL

reply to post by k21968

OUCH!!!!!

I can understand not wanting to go to emergency...but I hope you are considering an ortho on MOnday if you can't snap it back in by then

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


No hospital. NOPE. WOnt happen. All they do is give you crutches (which I will not use) and pain pills (which I will not take). I have crazy joints...eventually it will go back where it belongs. It is better today. Still not exactly in the right place..but it is getting there. It keeps buckling which hurts...but I know it is trying to go where it belongs which is why it keeps buckling.

basically, your knee cap sits in a groove. Mine is not in that groove exactly right so it is rubbing against my femur and shin bone when I walk. At the worst I have a bone bruise. Those heal in time. Really nothing anyone can do. I just have to get it back in the groove. And so far, no luck.

reply to post by k21968



You may have torn/stretched part of the patellar ligament so that the patella has 'lopsided' tension and can no longer sit in its groove when the anterior thigh muscles are under load and contracting. you might want to rule that out by seeing your doc.

I also have joint laxity- increasing my potassium intake by drinking low sodium v8 made most of my symptoms (dislocations, subluxations, rotating ribs, and pain) get better- including plantar fasciitis that I didnt know I had because I thought it was normal for one's feet to hurt in the morning. Three days after drinking four 12oz cans of low sodium v8/day I out of the bed and felt no pain in the bottom of my feet for the first time in my life- I was shocked.

One of the dietary treatments that is supposed to help w/ EDS (ehlers danlos syndrome) spectrum connective tissue disorders is vit C therapy. I think vit C therapy works a little on its own but low sodium V8 has lots of that AND potassium- I think the latter has a bigger effect or maybe the two together are synergistic. I haven't had a toe dislocate after a shower since I started this 9 yrs ago. Occasionally one used to pop out due to the temp change/stepping onto a cold floor. Nowadays i only drink 8-12 ozs per day and symptoms haven't come back- unless I skip a day or two the the morning pain in my feet comes back.

Joint laxity often improves with age as type 3 collagen fibers are replaced by type 1, but not always. I wish you luck.

reply to post by sjorges2002



Thanks for the v-8 advice. I will tell my daughter as well! I am 45, it aint gettin' no better! LOL

I have already been told my ligaments are stretched. The ortho that told me that told me I would've been in better shape if I tore them!! I opted not to have surgery to tighten them back up. I have tight quads and hamstrings which compound the issue in my knee!

reply to post by k21968


For people with join laxity its usually not a good idea to do surgeries unless absolutely necessary- i agree with your decision to put it off. I hope it works for you and your daughter as well as it did for me.

My knees used to come out of their groove quite a bit when I was in my early teens, mostly down to a rapid growth spurt I think and a propensity for sitting cross legged. I remember the terror of feeling it happen and then realizing I had to straighten my leg up and pop it back in.

I had actually forgotten about this until I read your post and now i feel sick all over again from remembering the ice cold terror of anticipation of the bolt of electric pain and nausea that would accompany the click back into place. I almost fainted a few times from it

If it doesnt immediately fix itself by just straightening your leg up then you probably do need to go see a doctor (yeah I know I did read your op but... doctors are helpful)

reply to post by davespanners


It has until Monday to get back in the groove. If it is not in by then, off to the doctor I will go. They will torture me and put it back and cause me more pain. Then probably stick a needle in it 10 times like in the past and aspirate the fluid that is accumulating. That is what I dread more than anything. Child birth was a piece of cake compared to that. The big hollow needle being jabbed into the space in my knee joint and sucking out nasty bloody thick fluid. I screamed like a baby. It was embarrassing. He said he could not numb it except on the skin and that did NOTHING. When I walked into the waiting room when he was finished people stared at me. I know they all heard me.

My daughter has had it done once, and she grabbed my arm and told me she hated me and I was the worst mom in the world. she turned into a psychopath when they aspirated her knee. It was more horrible to watch it done to her than have it done to me!

I just know it is coming. My knee is mushy and swollen. Not good. I will keep popping the anti inflamatories and hope for the best. The fluid will go away on its own eventually. Aspiration just speeds up the process and reduces the pain. If it pops back in I will suck that part up!

Good grief. I spelled dislocated wrong in the thread title.

Sorry. I cant edit it now.

I was in pain. We will use that excuse, oK?

Glad to here, its doing better.

I did a typo to. I wrote "tub instead of "tug". spell check didn't catch me.

Tub, might have helped tho. I remember when I was like that tho. I wasn't moving very far, and tub was out of the question.

Stationary Bike workouts would strengthen that section of muscle to reduce future injuries.

Oww!!!

The video is what happened to me too! Whacking it back in like that, he has done that before!

Get well!

You got to youtube or google that. I'm the same way. I don't go to hospitals or dr's at all. And for very good reason. Like if you read "confessions of a medical heritic" that kinda wakes you up. Not only that but I've seen a lot of horror stories. LOTS. No, I'll fix myself. Same with dentists. I won't go unless I'm actually in a lot of pain. then you might have to. Also chiropractors, physio, and others, no way I'll fix myself. And NO PERSCRIPTIONS either! I'll just take naturopathic remedies instead. They're way better and way way way more effective. They could actually heal you, unlike perscriptions which do nothing for you but make you worse.

reply to post by k21968


Excellent! Knew you'd get it. I'm in my 40's now, too, so I know what you mean. I've gotten so slippery in the past where I've had to brace my joints. Funniest one was when I had to brace both ankles, a knee, my wrists while using crutches (hip) and a sling (shoulder). Had to go to the grocery store like that and the cashier just stared at me with dim horror on her face. I just said "car accident"--was good enough for her, lol.

My docs thought I might have a bit of Ehler-Danlos because I've got the super soft baby skin. However, they never did any tests for it. If it is, it's super mild. That little extra dash of elasticity has its perks though. I'm still pretty limber for my age and level of arthritis and my skin is comparable to a 25 year old. Those two things might be worth the occasional dislocation...maybe, lol. Ask me when I dislocate something next, hee hee.

You're doing the right thing with the naproxen. Just keep taking it til it slips back into place. Might want to brace it for a bit after it does so you can keep it where it belongs while it heals. Nothing is more irritating than relocating something only to have it slip right out again, lol.

Good luck, Fellow Mutant! My daughter is a mutant, too. I live vicariously through her hypermobility adventures now, muahahahhaaha.

The long term answer is to strengthen the imbalances of your muscles so the joints dont receive such unnecessary tension.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


have you tried vit C therapy or any variation? I also have baby soft skin- but my joints are not as loose as yours sound, but I can dislocate some just by moving them a certain way. It is super creepy When I was in my late 20s I had terrible hip pain- didnt bother with DRs bc I Knew it was OA. Pain went away with low impact activity and dietary changes. I always thought EDS people had early onset OA and worse pain over time- is that wrong?