Knee dislocation & recovery

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Dislocated my knee yesterday evening, I it came out after I knocked it on something turning around. It was out for around 8-15 seconds before I pushed it back in as i was bordering on passing out and couldn’t go any longer feeling it out.

went to A&E as couldn’t move on it at all and could hardly bend it. I have a brace and crutches, with some painkillers and a date to go to the knee clinic on the 22nd. Just wondering how painful it should be? I have dislocated my other knee around 10 years ago and same thing, had a brace on and then ended up with a cast for 8 weeks. I’m in ALOT of pain, all the inside of the side of my knee is in agony. Anytime I turn weirdly or move with leg even with the brace on puts all this pressure in my knee and underneath the patella itself. I keep getting these weird shock type pains and just pain overall.

i understand pain is normal but im a little worried as they couldn’t rule out ligiment injuries. They confirmed it wasn’t locked as they did a small test on my leg but I could hardly even manage them moving it a little bit.

?? Anyone

When my daughter did that playing sports she was supposed to wear her leg brace for 6 weeks but I think she was feeling ok after about 3-4 weeks and back on her feet without the brace.

She was/is a tiny size 6 i remember Dr saying because of weight she might heal faster, we were warned it might be unstable for a few months though and she had to not partake in any sports for a good few months, may have even been 6 months.

Yeah I have the brace on at the moment but my knee is still in so much pain. I remember doing it to my other knee 10 years ago and it honestly wasn’t this bad and I neeeded a cast on after the brace so I wonder if I’ve done some damage

I had a knee dislocation. It was out for longer than yours as there was no way I was getting it back in myself and needed paramedics to reset it. The resetting was actually a very gentle process, they slowly rotated my leg at the ankle until it was back in place. I was on gas and air and still nearly passed out though. Maybe resetting it yourself has aggravated it further but i completely understand why you needed to. My knee was painful and felt very loose, almost like it was only held in place by my skin for weeks. The consultant said I had ligament damage from them being stretched. I didn't have a brace and was told to walk on it as normally as possible to strengthen the muscles back up. I also did quite a few weekly physio sessions to rebuild the strength and had an MRI to check none of the bone had broken off.

Ive popped it out and straight back in again a few times since and even then its very sore and tender for a good few days.

Hope you heal up soon. A knee dislocation is the worst thing I've had happen to me. I would take childbirth and kidney stones at the same time over a dislocation.

Younger people defintely seem to heal much quicker, in my limited experience. Even some normally super fit, helathy older people seem to take way longer. You could try 111, maybe? Or can you self-refer to physio in your area?

needs a ct or mri best case soft tissue damage a couple of months
worse case ligaments 9 to 12 months longer if you need an op and have to wait

I've dislocated my kneecaps about 30 times in total (i don't know the exact number as I used to pretend it hadn't happened again as a teenager...) and sometimes the pain and healing time was a lot worse than others - generally if it was dislocated for more than a few seconds, or especially if I fell on it, it would swell up much more and be much sorer for longer. But typically 2-3 weeks later it would feel ok. I would still try to get an MRI to check for long term damage if I were you.

And if it is a recurring injury - I eventually got a polymer internal brace fitted to keep my worse kneecap in place. It has since failed (9 years after surgery) but only once (I finally became a gym girl after that and it seems to be helping).

Thank you all for the comments

ive been in a lot of pain the last 2 days, I have to keep the brace on and crutches until the 22nd for my knee clinic appointment. My knee is still swollen and has started to bruise as well, the pain is mainly on the inside of my knee and radiates into the kneecap itself… I’ve been on codiene and naproxen but the pain is pushing through that. I took the brace off to shower and my leg felt super unstable and had a fright that it was gonna do it again.

the doctor at A&E told me it wasn’t locked as it’s still slightly bendable (the pain stops ne from bending it) he didn’t tell me my x-ray results so I reckon it was okay however he said he couldn’t rule out ligament or nerve damage with all the swelling and such

I have dislocated my right knee twice (once really badly which ended up with a brace for 2 weeks and then a cast for 6/7 weeks) and the second time wasn’t bad at all however this one happened to my left knee and it was absolutely horrendous, it wasn’t out for ages but longer than I felt it should’ve been and I passed out for around 6-8 seconds straight afterwards.. I’m quite worried about the damage done because I don’t remember it being this painful with my right knee and I’m pretty sure I only took paracetamol/ibuprofen as I was only 12/13 at the time.

Ligament damage*

Oh ouch, poor you. I’m actually awake as my knee is really hurting following a dislocation, so sympathies. I don’t know how your NHS trust works so not sure how helpful any of this will be, sorry! Also very tired and dazey from concussion still so please excuse errors.

Could they bring your follow up appointment any earlier? We don’t have a knee clinic, I’m usually seen under the general fracture clinic (frequent dislocations and breaks, other joints and bones not just knees!). They seem to be the most effective hub and sends you to various follow up investigations and physio etc. I’ve found arthograms (? An MRI scan with contrast dye?) which shows the ligaments and tendons so a lot more detail. And they can see if surgery is required to tighten up ligaments if needed, especially for unstable joints. Useful but usually a wait for this. Did A and E do just an xray, or CT/MRI scan?

Do you have anyone at home to support you? I’ve found it’s easy-ish to avoid deliberate weight bearing using the crutches - but it’s the inadvertent accidental automatic turning/twisting movements that can really catch you! I just move very slowly and deliberately. If you feel very unsteady or joint feels “loose” could someone stay with you and alert to catch you?

Perching stools where you can keep your leg extended when sitting down to wash etc, are helpful. A cold flannel (old school!) helps as does biofreeze gel, which is genuinely bloody amazing stuff. Really numbing though it can hurt to apply the roll on. If your prescribed painkillers aren’t cutting it, could you speak to your GP (ours do phone appts so no difficulty limping there). I’ve found diazepam helpful following dislocations as it helps the very tense sore muscles, but I don’t want to give medical advice im not qualified to give - just stuff I have found helpful. I think my HCPs are very proactive with pain though as I have uncontrolled epilepsy, hence the large amount of injuries. They know if my pain is controlled better I recover sooner and don’t “guard” my joints as much. I also have generalised very sore muscles so they may be more free with the diazepam than more straightforward injuries! I do think your codiene should be at a level to actually help though. Do you have a stomach protector for the naproxen?

again, want to stress I’m not medically qualified, just personal experience. BioFreeze is wonderful if you’ve not tried it, so much better than the usual cold sprays etc, and not as much faff as ice packs that melt on your bed!

sending sympathies, it’s really shit.

Also, I sometimes get bollocked at A and E for putting my joints back in myself as there is more risk of complication/damage than a professional doing it. I totally take this on board but also let it wash over me as 1. I can’t fucking time travel and 2. I’m usually post ictal and don’t really realise what I’m doing when relocating stuff and 3. waiting in A and E for 6 hours plus with a joint out of place isn’t my idea of fun. So please don’t feel “guilted” if you get bollocked like I do!

also, always told to keep knee propped up. Wedge pilllow is good for this as it feels comfier for me. Typing this slowly as two broken fingers as well as shit concentration so hope it makes sense.

Fuck sake sorry keep forgetting link.
I don’t have shares I promise (but really should!) the roll on works most effectively for me. It numbs for about 20 mins which is amazing

https://www.boots.com/biofreeze-pain-relief-roll-on-89ml-10266860

Hi, how did it dislocate? Was it “up the thigh” (anterior) or to the outer side of the knee?

my dd has had an exterior dislocation where her kneecap was dislocated sideways and was horrific but she did only stretch the ligaments. She needed a scan to confirm it, NHS took two weeks to organise the CT then three to review the CT so she was stuck in a brace for nearly 6 weeks but once confirmed then she was out of the brace on crutches and physio.

Most dislocations “want” to go back so if you can totally relax and slowly straighten the limb, it will pop back.
With an exterior knee dislocation you do apparently have to push “up and over” but typically it is hard to do that safely yourself so you should avoid it really if it happens again. We were told: You could chip the bone if you force it and then that’s a knee operation right there as you can’t have a loose bone fragment. Sadly my poor dd was stuck with a dislocation for over 4 hours due to shitty NHS (paramedics were useless tbh) and for the first two hours she was screaming in pain. The relocation after 4.5 hours was so bad (due to the knee going into spasm from the trauma) that even the paramedic - who stayed with us in A&E - cried at the end.

Anyway dd had complete recovery both times - you MUST do the physio religiously.

I have also had a knee dislocation - mine was “anterior” so my kneecap was halfway up my thigh. I was able to relocate the kneecap by gently sliding my leg straight. This injury did come with a complete rupture of my patellar ligament - when I say it was agony to move my leg, I am understating. I couldn’t lift my leg at all as the connection through the knee was gone but this was very identifiable by the doctor even through swelling - there was a big dip or “hole” that he could feel so they knew they needed to operate - they didn’t even bother to scan it, just put me in surgery next day. I could not tell you where the pain was before surgery as it was so extreme.

Patellar ligament controls your ability to lift your leg, ACL controls the “sideways” stability as I understand it.

I since found out that patellar ligament rupture is considered worse that ACL for pain and recovery

You may have partially ruptured or damaged your ACL or patellar ligament, yes.

You need to ice and elevate, ice and elevate, ice and elevate. Get that swelling down!

Personally until you’ve had another assessment I would not be weight bearing at all - crutches along with the brace, and don’t even put your foot to the ground if you can help it.

Once you’ve recovered in however many months: you need to throw yourself into getting your hip, ankle and knee strength up to scratch. Hip flexibility is helpful too. It will support your knees so that you aren’t relying on the knees to do all the work when you put load through the kneecap.

Thank you all for the replies, it was 100% a patella outward dislocation. It went out sideways, and I turned my leg and push it back in with hand around 15 seconds later

still in a lot of pain, may have to ring my doctors or the number given for the clinic cos I’m honestly struggling to even do things on my own. The pain is on the inside of my knee where the ligaments must’ve stretched and I get spasms in it and underneath the knee cap itself. I was waiting in A&E to see a doctor for 6 hours so I’m glad I managed to do it myself as I don’t reckon I would’ve been able to be like that got more than a couple of minutes

my appointment is on the 22nd so hopefully the swelling has gone down by then. Here’s a photo for comparison on the swelling, I’m keeping it elevated and I’ve been prescribed 500mg naproxen and 60mg of codiene (only take 30mg as it makes me sick) you can hardly even see the kneecap itself with the swelling! It does look less worse on the photo but there’s bruising starting as well on the inside of my knee

I would definitely ring GP or clinic, if the pain isn’t controlled, it is a disabling injury though, I did mine 9(?) days ago and whilst the swelling is less, its still very painful.its also a bizarre shade of green from all the bruising! Are you using cool packs/ice in towel type stuff as that will help with the swelling. Perhaps the GP could give you an anti sickness med so you can keep the max dose of codeine down, I’ve been prescribed them to keep meds down before and they worked well. (Again this is not qualified medical advice, just experience!) everybody suggests arnica to me for bruising, doesn’t seem to work for me for me though. How are you occupying your time?

I will speak to my GP tomorrow I think :)

Ive been crocheting a lot and doing my orders as I run a small crochet business :) it’s been okay being bed bound lol. I showered yesterday evening and my leg felt like it would give out at any point it was honestly horrendous. My kneecap itself just feels so unstable

Thought I’d update a little bit on my knee, I’ve obviously had to get dressed today and then get into PJs for bed and without the brace on my knee literally buckles underneath me. It’s like someone has hit the back of my knee everytime I try put a little bit of weight on it. With the brace on I feel a lot better but as soon as it’s off there’s literally no stability to my knee at all. This has me quite worried about the ligaments in it as it honestly feels like it would give way if I tried to use it at all. I did not have this on my other knee when I did it the first time (10 years ago)

You’ve torn ether the acl or you pcl

hope I’m wrong as a very long job and more than likely surgery to re construction
you need a mri scan and a referral to orthopaedics
id go to urgent care walk in as it will sped up referral or a and e as the potential to do more damage when it gives way is massive you can tear your meniscus or other ligaments when it gives way

My knees have dislocated many times as I have hypermobility it started when I was pregnant. I just put the knee back myself and yes the knee is sore but I can just carry on. Except for onetime nearly 25 years ago I couldn’t get it back in so dh had to do it. My knee and leg swelled up badly so I did go to the hospital, they wrapped my whole leg from top of thigh to ankle in a tight bandage and gave me crutches but I took the bandage off the next day as I couldn’t get around and I had 2 small children to look after.
My knees ache a lot after a dislocation and they feel quite unstable for a while but it goes very quickly.

Managed to get my appointment pulled forward to the 18th instead of the 22nd as I’m quite worried about the damage to my knee

I think you have definitely damaged something and it needs proper investigation. For comparison, I’ve dislocated my knee twice and had no pain at all, it just felt a bit tender.

Yeah i definitely think ive damaged something as theres no stability to my leg (knee) at all. Genuinely feels like its gonna give out underneath me

I wouldn’t accept that a doctors appointment is a complete waste of of time
they only way ether can diagnose this is with a scan

message doctor on your app asking for scan and referral to ortho and telephone consultation
leave it to the 18th your adding another week to the wait for the scan
they ll have all you discharge b notes from a and e to refer to

That’s the soonest I could get, there isn’t anywhere else I can ring as it’s a direct appointment to the MSK knee clinic urgent treatment from A&E. I did ask for sooner but they said one of the consultants has gone on sick leave so they’re short staffed

It's interesting how different hospitals treat patella dislocation so differently. Admittedly mine was at 90 degrees for over 2 hours as the paramedics didn't want to reduce it themselves but I was put straight in a back slab at the hospital and told no weight baring at all until I had been seen once the swelling reduced. I went to the fracture clinic 4 days later to have fluid removed from the joint and then I was in thigh to toe cast for 4 weeks and told not to put my foot to the ground! It was agony until it was properly stabilised with the cast. I imagine the brace is giving the same support as a cast but allowing for swelling but it seems odd that it's so long before you go back.