No one knows what's wrong with my knee. Any advice?

[colleenery]

Hello,

So, the long and the short of it is: I dislocated my patella December of 2011 (4+ months ago).  It was my second dislocation, the first was more than ten years prior.  I was taken to the ER where it was put back in place. I wore an immobilizer for 3 weeks, then started physical therapy. It became clear about a month in that I wasn't recovering on schedule. My VMO is weak, like so weak it can't support my body weight. It can take no weight bent. I can't extend the leg fully. The knee constantly buckles when I walk despite doing pt twice a week this whole time. It won't regain strength. So, the doctor ordered an MRI of the knee to see if the VMO was torn. It's not, everything looks normal. Then he ordered an EMG, nerve conduction study. Again, everything is fine. Then an MRI of the lumbar spine was done, and again everything was fine. I've seen an integrative medicine specialist who recommended acupuncture. I tried a few treatments, but noticed no difference. Then the ortho referred me to a neurologist who now wants to repeat the nerve study with a different practitioner and do another MRI, this time of my thigh to see if anything is awry there.

There is still swelling of the knee and it's actually getting weaker, despite the pt, so my ortho put me back in the immobilizer.

Oh, also, I switched orthopaedists between the knee mri and the lumbar spine mri, beause i wanted a second opinion. both are highly trained and are listed as top orthopaedic surgeons in the region.

As you can see, I've tried lots and lots of things but no one seems to know what is going on.  I am frustrated. I'm 28 and can't run or jump and am having a hard time keeping optimistic. I live in a big city where walking to get around is a very large part of life. I know I should be grateful that I'm up and able to walk as well as I can, but I'd really love to figure out what is going on and regain full function of my leg.

Is there something I'm overlooking or not thinking of? Anything you could offer would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Colleen

[DennisKnee]

Hi Colleen,

I too dislocated my patella in Dec 11 and have undergone surgery twice since then in order to get things fixed up. Granted, I already had an ACL deficient knee but the dislocation caused a full tear of my MPFL and significant damage to the medial structures in my knee....and quite a bit of nasty bone bruising just to top it off.

I was told that when you experience a dislocation of the patella, you have a >90% chance of tearing your MPFL so you're either extremely lucky, or something has been missed on your MRI.

I'm certainly not suggesting that you need surgery but it sounds like you need to keep searching for answers.

Let me know if you have any other questions and don't lose hope!

  Karen

[Tinkerbell11]

Hey keep searching for answers its ur knee and no if something is wrong ! And things can be missed on mri scan I dislocated my knee when I was 19 was off my feet ages took me over 6 months to get back to normal ! My knee dislocated due to a tilt in knee cap but for a year my knee was agony struggled to do anything walking even going to sit down killed ! Had mri scan when first dislocated knee showed no damage 7 months later got another one done still showed no damage .. Had a tilt but left knee has a tilt and no were as painful got told don't no what's wrong think its hormones and brushed away like a silly girl ! Went ahead a year later with lr to correct the tilt and because of the tilt it had baddly damaged knee joint and scuffed cartilage away which was why a was in agony ! The relief I felt known what was causing me so much pain .. Not saying jump and get surgery but if ur in pain don't stop till u find out what's going on and it might cause more damage if left untreated good luck and all the best hope u find out soon what's going on xx