What are your symptoms of Patella Baja?

[greatfulgann]

I am so happy to have found this site.  I was diagnosed with patella infera/baja but question this diagnosis.  I have full range 0-145 I can even sit on my knees on the floor.  Does this sound like patella baja?  My knee always feels tight.  So what justifies the diagnosis of baja vs. arthrofibrosis or are they really the same thing?

[missmyknee]

Hi Greatfulgann

Arthrofibrosis ( excessive scar tissue) causes patella baja. For patella baja, scar tissue will form around the patella tendon and down in the anterior interval which causes the patella to be pulled down low and further contraction pulls the patella deep into the joint space. Everyone's symptoms are different, some can still have good ROM. It depends on how much scar tissue, where it is attached and how low the patella has been pulled down. Sometimes all it takes is to strengthen the quads to bring the patella back up. 

With my patella baja , I had ROM problems. I had difficulty bending past  100 degrees.( extremely painful and tight) and I could not fully straighten my leg. I had to place a rolled up towel under my knee. I could not do stairs, walk down inclines, etc. My patella was also subluxating all the time..........sitting to stand, standing to sit, even when walking. I had to manually move the patella to uncatch. Sometimes my patella would uncatch by itself, in the form of a ripping sharp pain pop. My knee was swollen,hot, painful, with severe quad atrophy. My patella was tight and had little movement. It was intolerable to walk. On xrays, you could definately see the patella sitting much lower than the good knee. My OS made measurments on the xray. I had an MRI which showed permanent changes to my patella tendon, which had become shortened and thick.  I was diagnosed with infrapatellar contracture syndrome and patella baja.

When I had surgery to correct it, my Dr said my patella had been pulled so low, the patella and patella tendon were completely adhesed down to the tibia. Patella baja caused severe damage to the articular cartilage of my patella , which led to a TKR 4 yrs later.

Here are some links to the information hub relating to patella baja. The first one is from Dr Noyes turtorial on arthrofibrosis, discussing patella baja

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/2063
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/220
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/1794
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/219

Pam

[captainruss]

Great,

Pam has very good advice about AF.  My situation is different as I have no knee cap.  It was removed 30 years ago.  I do have a serious amount of AF in the knee.  I have no idea why it started and has inflicted my knee since my first TKR.  I am not going to go any further into my condition, but I will tell you I am part of the very small 1 percent that are complicated by the condition.  You should be very educated about it so that if it starts to concern you, the correct questions are available to you.

Pam (missmyknee) has her blog posted in the directory.  It is one of the most up to date readings I have had the pleasure of reading.

Good Luck and keep us informed.

Russ