Hi,
Tried in general section couple of weeks ago but no reply, maybe it's a unique problem, but any thoughts would be much appreciated as it's disheartening not to progress.
I had a ruptured patella tendon repaired 16 weeks ago after a cycling accident. I thought I was recovering well, but have developed a significant 'clunk' at about 20 degrees when I move from extension to bent leg. So although I can use exercise bike OK, as I don't go to full extension, I am unable to walk or go up a stair without the clunk.
At fracture clinic I had x-rays and the doc spoke to the knee specalist. I was informed that the cause is my patella tilting towards the tibia too much, and catching on a naturally occurring ridge in the groove. The plan is to see if I get used to the clunking over the next 6 months, and to try and walk naturally in spite of this, which is naturally hard to do and will mean not walking far at all. Beyond that, there is some surgery that can be considered, either smooth the ridge in the groove or what I now conclude is a partial knee replacement of the PF joint.
When I though about the mechanics, I tried using a tight neoprene strap above the knee to tilt patella away from the tibia. This resulted in some improvement, lessening or removng the clunk. There is also some improvement if patella is pushed inwards, this resulted in initial focus being on strenghthening VMO with the physio.
I am 4-5 weeks into strengthening physio (squats to close to 90 deg and standing up from sitting with good leg further away). Also cycling slowly to 10 miles. There is still swelling (circumference is about 10+% higher compared with good knee).
Has anyone come across this condition, does it have a name, and if there is any advice it will be highly appreciated. Thanks for reading, Julian
