What To Do With A Broken Kneecap

Any knee injury is hard work to deal with and recover from so hopefully this lens will be useful to others too.

What to do with a broken kneecap. Surgery may be used to move the broken pieces back into their correct positions. Symptoms of a broken kneecap fracture are swelling and pain especially when moving the knee back and forth. If the kneecap is broken in many pieces at its center and the pieces are separated your doctor may use a combination of wires and screws to fix it. If you break your kneecap your symptoms might include.

If the broken pieces are still lined up you ll get a cast to hold everything in place as you heal. The patella and quadriceps tendon connects the big muscle in the front of your thigh to your knee joint. It takes the brunt of any blows to your knee such as a fall onto your knee or your knee hitting the dashboard. In most cases a broken kneecap is caused by a direct blow to the front of the knee from a car accident sports or a fall onto concrete.

Once your kneecap has healed making the muscles around your knee stronger can help avoid further injury. I had a knee replacement about 13. Sometimes when a broken kneecap occurs the patellar or quadriceps tendon can also tear. Surgery may also be used to remove part or all of your kneecap.

Nancy tate hellams from pendleton sc on february 07 2013. This is very informative and helpful to anyone suffering a broken knee cap. The kneecap is susceptible to many fractures and accounts for 1 percent of all broken bones. A broken kneecap can occur as a result of a direct blow to the kneecap as a result of a motor vehicle collision a fall on the knee being hit on the knee by a heavy object or a gunshot wound to the kneecap.

Wires pins screws or bands may be used to hold the pieces in place. Rehabilitation for a broken kneecap can only begin after establishing the type of fracture and treatment options used. Physical therapy may be recommended. I remember my mother breaking her knee cap many years ago.

External fixation may be used to hold your kneecap in place and then removed. The kneecap or patella is the bone that protects your knee joint. Complete removal of the kneecap is a last resort in treating a comminuted fracture. A broken kneecap occurs when the small round bone patella that sits over the front of your knee joint breaks.

Playing certain contact sports like football or rugby may also result in a broken kneecap. Two types of surgery may be done to repair a fractured kneecap. This is a serious injury where you break your kneecap usually in a fall.