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Hi there, sorry to hear about your knee injury, especially on top of already being off from activities due to the shoulder.I've had a few subluxations like this, where the kneecap went out and my leg buckled. It definitely took a few weeks for my knee to feel normal again. The last time it happened like this I ended up taking I believe 3 or 4 weeks off of sport, and even when I went back, the knee was still sore after for a few more weeks. The major swelling subsided after a few days but the residual, lingering swelling took weeks to go away. My ROM was never affected too badly that I can remember, but I definitely had the pain locking the leg in extension like you describe. It was also painful if the knee was twisted or any kind of torquing motion on it. Not to mention the areas medial and lateral to the patella were sore.I think everyone is different in terms of healing and pain level so it is really hard to compare. But for a first time subluxation, physical therapy is often the way to go.That said, I was always told by multiple doctors that it was something to live with and to just keep my leg muscles strong so I can understand where you are coming from. It ended up being the case for me that there really was an explanation for my instability and pain and it just took having the right doctor to diagnose it.I would say continue on with your strengthening and healing but if you aren't satisfied with the diagnosis, seek more opinions. The treatment course you are on is a good one regardless of if there is something fundamentally wrong in the knee or not, and if there is, time will tell.
Hi crankerchick, thanks very much for the reply!Question, though- in your 2nd last paragraph, you said "It ended up being the case for me that there really was an explanation for my instability and pain and it just took having the right doctor to diagnose it." What was that explanation that was found? I don't think you mentioned it in your response. Was anything torn? Or are you also loose jointed like me?Also, are you able to run, do squats, or just kneel in general with your knee as it is? And if you are, how long was it before you could do that again after your first subluxation??
Generally speaking, if something tears, it is as a result of the dislocation, not the cause. In my case, I have a few structural deformities working against me to contribute to the instability. I have femoral anteversion and tibial torsion which just means my femurs twist inward excessively and the tibias twist outward excessively. It's not really visible to the eye for me as it is with some people, but CT scan shows it to be the case. This creates a joint behind the kneecap that is out of alignment, pulling the patella long for the ride. I also have patella alta which just means my kneecap sits high in the trochlear groove. My kneecaps also have a tilt and my trochlear groove is shallow.The second surgery in my signature is what I had done to address the excess torsions on the femur and tibia as well as the patella alta. I've only had this done on my left leg, as it has always been the worse of the two.There are a lot of reasons for why a patella might dislocate recurrently. For someone experiencing repeated dislocations or subluxations or pain due to malalignment, it is very important to find a doctor that looks at all of the reasons for the problem, rather than just treating the symptoms or consequences of the problem. For someone that has dislocated just once, conservative treatment seems to be the best course, especially in someone that has otherwise normal anatomy.If something tore in the knee, it would mostly likely be the medial patello-femoral ligament. In an otherwise healthy knee, the need to reconstruct that ligament should be investigated only after a solid course of physical therapy has failed. And even still, the tearing of said ligament is generally the result of the dislocations, not the root cause. These are tricky problems.
