Would ligaments and muscles show up on an X-ray of a dislocated knee.

[Bl00mingCactus]

Dd 15 hypermobile and dyspraxia dislocated her knee and put it back herself. X-ray showed in place. Physio next week but she’s still on crutches with leg bent and can’t put any weight on it. Sort of hobbles close to ground. X-ray said knee in place, didn’t mention anything torn or stretched. She’s getting really fed up.

X-ray won't particularly show what's happened with the soft tissues, an MRI would. The ligaments will have been stretched at least, and there is likely to be a lot of swelling.
People with hypermobility can be slow to heal, so she is going to have to take it easy and be patient, and avoid things that might cause it to happen again.

No chance of that.She’s getting on the bus to school and hobbling down the the road, round school. Can she damage it more?

If she was given crutches and told to mobilise as she's able, then that's fine. Pain and swelling will be limiting factors.
Unless you are able to give her a lift to the school door, life is going to have to go on.

Not sure if this is different with hypermobility, but every time I have dislocated a knee (3 times so far), the treatment has been full immobilisation, either with a cricket bat splint or a back slab cast, for at least two weeks before attempting to weight bear.
How long has it been since she did it? Did she get it x-rayed at the time? What advice did they give for while she is waiting for physio?

It was minor injuries and they were a bit crap. Didn’t get told anything. Just handed a phone number and a pair of crutches.😬

DD dislocated her knee many times and xrays after it was back in didn’t show the problems it caused her ligament. She did have xrays when it was stuck, but that didn’t show much. The physio sent her back for a skyline X-ray which showed the kneecap slipping out, but it was only when the consultant had an MRI done that it showed the ligament damage. She had an MPFL reconstruction a year ago which has made a huge difference.

The last major dislocation she had before the op took a good couple of weeks for the swelling and pain to go. Elevation and ice packs always helped her recover. She was always referred to fracture clinic when we’d been to A&E but it took a couple of visits before getting the consultant who looked at the right ligament! Hope she’s feeling better soon.

I tore and shredded my cartilage and snapped a ligament several years ago. I had a couple of xrays and nothing showed up. 9 months later, after much pestering, I convinced a consultant there was something wrong. The fact there was any damage was only discovered in surgery.