NOTES - Surgical Procedures :

Lateral release surgery - - Posted by CLJONE3 (CLJONE3), 5 August 2004

I had lateral release done on my right knee in January.  With months of physical therapy under my belt, I still find that my knee is painful upon bending or stooping down.  The pain is felt at the medial condyle of the distal femur.  Also upon bending my knee, the patella seems to slide over to the lateral part of my knee causing a deformd looking knee.  I have also had a problem with swelling.  Any input would be appreciated.

Charles Jones
Lexington, Kentucky
Posted by Leta_MT (Leta_MT), 8 August 2004

Hi Charles,

I was wondering why you had the lateral release? Has it always been a question of maltracking? If so, it kind of sounds like the maltracking has not been corrected. Much of the time, LR alone doesn't fix it. LR corrects patellar tilt quite effectively, but more times than not, it doesn't make the patella track correctly.

LR wasn't enough by itself in my case. It did correct the tilt and the x-rays looked better post-op, but it didn't feel any better. Please keep in mind that everyone is different so don't freak out if you read any of my posts! Your options may be totally different than mine were.

Hang in there. Knees suck, but we need 'em so we keep working to get them right!

Leta

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