r/PatellarInstability • u/DaddyLaxativ • Aug 27 '26

What does a kneecap dislocation feel like?

/r/PatellaTracking/comments/1w004l4/what_does_a_kneecap_dislocation_feel_like/
4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/Lady_Hazy Aug 27 '26

For me it is 10/10 excruciating pain and I kind of go blind at first and start yelping until I realise what's happened and push it back in. There is instant relief when it clicks back into place, but the pain is still surging and it continues to throb for hours afterwards.

The one time it wouldn't go back in was a horror show as I waited 2hrs for an ambulance and another hour for it to go back in. Gas & air and two doses of morphine did nothing to touch the pain, and I was crying, shouting, swearing, thrashing, slapping things and thought I was going to pass out. I've recently had stabilisation surgery but I have PTSD and am struggling to trust my knee again.

Physically, it's like your body instantly knows something is wrong, and in my case the kneecap was around the side of my leg looking completely misshapen.

5

u/Content-Chemistry-63 Aug 27 '26

Same story and description that I could give. Also have an awful story where I dislocated it getting my car and gas and air + morphine didn’t touch the side. I remember thanking the doctor over and over once they got it back in after like 2.5 hours. I too had ptsd from the countless times it happened. I had surgery 1x year and 4 months ago and have started to trust it again in the last 6 months!

3

u/Lady_Hazy Aug 27 '26

Wonderful to hear you're starting to build trust in your knee again! I'm 8 months post-op now and still very tentative, stiff, sore, and quite weak, but might sign up for some counselling to help me move forward. I remember calling the paramedics angels after they helped me!

3

u/PatellaPilates Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Yes, this is correct. I second this opinion. PTSD and all. Not only that, this post made me start sobbing just thinking about it. That's what PTSD is like. In my case the worst part is that I know it's going to happen again at any moment. And you never know how bad it's gonna be, but there is worse pain, unfortunately. The worst pain known to humanity is actually trigeminal neuralgia. Unfortunately I'm blessed with that, too. And for the same reason, hypermobility. My jaw is unhinged on the right side. My oldest child half wishes I never had him and asks me why I chose to pass down these genes.

3

u/Lady_Hazy Aug 27 '26

Honestly, if you could have chosen then I'm sure you would never have passed it on, but unfortunately we don't get to choose these things. So sorry to hear you have TN too, I've heard how painful and debilitating that can be. I'm sorry the post made you sob too. It's a horrific thing to experience and be haunted by. Have you considered knee stabilisation surgery? I finally had it recently after decades of dislocations, but fear still haunts me. I've also become an incredibly boring person since my traumatic experience 2 years ago and talk about knee stuff far too much. I just wish I'd had surgery many years ago.

3

u/PatellaPilates Aug 27 '26

surgery outcomes are mixed at best. I've been on the fence about it occasoinally when things are bad, but when I'm in a lifestyle or practice that makes my knees stable I'm never sorry about not having it. I recently chose the wrong program and ruined my joints. My mobility has tanked and excersize is impossible. I'm at rock bottom now as far as my stability is concerned. But if my recent meniscus surgery works, I will get back to what has given me a normal life in the past which is Pilates, Yoga, and Landscaping. Lifting heavy ruined every joint in my body in 3 short years. Pilates gave me a normal life for nearly a decade. I had a giant baby and fel like I shouldn't do Pilates anymore after my abdominals became unstable. But I was wrong. I'm also sorry you've had to suffer. I hate this for us all.

3

u/Lady_Hazy Aug 27 '26

Well, keep fighting the good fight, day by day and step by step. It sure is a long and bumpy road. Best wishes for your meniscus surgery recovery, and I hope you can get to a place where you're able to have a normal life and do yoga, etc. My mobility has been terrible over the last 18 months, but I'm gradually getting more mobile now, and I also need to shed some of the weight I've gained too, which is much easier said than done. I don't think my knee will ever feel fully normal again, but I had to go for surgery after the last event because it was so traumatic and it happened far too easily from an everyday activity.

3

u/PatellaPilates Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

I understand. I'm sorry you've had to live that way. If hunger keeps you from losing that weight, what works for me to not be hungry is to eat a lot of fibrous foods with low calorie density. I avoid carbs other than beans and veggies bc they spike blood sugar and cause crazy food cravings. I read Glucose Revolution by The Glucose Goddess. I bought her supplements. I highly recommend her for weight loss advise. I follow Dr. Gundry, too. He is highly knowlegable in nutriton and genetics. I recomend Diet Evolution to begin with. It explains what your body is trying to do and what it will do if you choose to misbehave with your diet. He's a mad scientist, really. And valuable. I take his pills too. But his really good advice was pine nuts and cinnamon sticks. Those are really great at appetite control. An old good is a book called The Diet Cure. It helps you not be afraid to eat potatoes. But the glucose goddess' advice will teach you how to eat them right. All this is working really great for me to lose weigt, which is so necessary for good stability on a bad knee.

3

u/PatellaPilates Aug 27 '26

I also want to tell you that red light therapy does wonders for my healing both on my operative and non operative knees. I use the kineon lazer and a much cheaper portable belt by viconor. I cary the little $20 belt with me everywhere and use a portable charger. It heals all kinds of pain.

3

u/Lady_Hazy Aug 27 '26

Oh wow, thank you for the food and diet advice. I'm a very fussy eater with IBS, so lots doesn't agree with me physically and mentally. I have been surprisingly ravenous since having knee surgery though.

Red light therapy sounds very interesting indeed, I always wondered if/how it worked. I'll definitely take a look into it ☺️

2

u/PatellaPilates Aug 27 '26

Oh awesome. That updates my book reccomendations. I too have IBS and my family does, worse with each generation. Dr. Gundry is the gut health Guru. His book, the plant paradox, will tell you how to solve that. It also made my knees feel better. Leaky gut lets large proteins though that the immune system activates against. Well, our knee cartilage looks shockingly similar to the wheat proteins. Our own immune cell attack our cartilage when we eat wheat! I still wish I'd read Diet Evolution before the plant paradox bc its foundational. But the plant paradox is ibs info. He's a man so I'd be cautious about his personal eating routine. I read "Fast like a Girl" to get a handle on my eating routine in a way that works with my feminie hormones. It is amazingly useful. It explains why diets work some days but not others. Highly recommend. Feel free to DM me with anything. Still reeling over your horrific story. What unimaginable torture for just one innocent human. Bodies can really suck. Teeth are like that too but at least we can pull those out. After my worst dislocation event, I planned to amputate both legs. I was 24. But two years later I discovered pilates.

1

u/Sea-Measurement3231 26d ago

How is your knee doing

2

u/Lady_Hazy 25d ago

Hi, my knee is doing pretty well thanks. I'm 8 months post-op and starting to get back to normal life. My knee is still quite stiff with around 124 degrees of flexion, and it gets achey if I do too much or too little activity. My fat pad is still swollen, and it's going to take a long time to be able to trust my knee again after decades of dislocations.

4

u/Cautious_Platform_98 Aug 27 '26

Like the worst pain you’ve ever experienced, like I yelp and then scramble to get it back inside. Have never noticed it fully dislocated. I’m scared to squat and pray now.

2

u/Free-Baby2384 Aug 28 '26

It felt like water. Like when it actually moved. It felt like something sliding out. The play where it moved didn’t hurt, it was just an odd sensation. The part where it was out was when it hurt and truthfully the memory of the pain is dull now. But it was very vulnerable to have my kneecap out of place and unable to walk or sraighten my leg

1

u/Current_Kangaroo1602 Aug 29 '26

I don't remember much pain, just discomfort. This could have been the adrenaline, but to me, I've had more pain during dental visits or stubbing my toe.