I dislocated my kneecap about two months ago and my doctor says I have to get surgery, is this necessary?

This was the second time I dislocated this knee (I have no problems with the other one-thank God!) My doctor says to get surgery but with that the recovery time will be 6-8 weeks! I'm very active person now cause I'm trying to loose weight but I think that long of a recovery time will cause me to go loose my mind. Is there any way to avoid surgery without the risk of dislocated my knee again? For example, are there any knee exercises I can do to prevent future dislocations?
Answer:
My daughter had that problem too. She did a year of physio to try %26 strengthen the muscles. It really made no difference to her. When her knee dislocated one day she had to go to the emergency department to have it put back in place. It was called an MUA (manipulation under anesthetic) Not very pleasant, very painful. The orthopedic surgeon operated when the swelling went back down. She had whats called a lateral release. Basically the outside muscle is cut to allow the kneecap to stay in the groove. That was about 13-14 yrs ago %26 her knee has been fine ever since. Hers was an open surgery, but they probably do it now through a scope

---

not really and there are exercises they have you do after surgery in therapy=good luck

---

Probably not. After two dislocations, your patellar tendons are probably warped enough that this will continue to happen. Prolonging the surgery (especially if you dislocate your knee again) will lead to much more extensive surgery...and longer recovery times...down the road. Fear not...the physical therapists will have you up and out of your bed within a week...and you will hate them. Passionately.Best of luck!

---

I AM ONLY 13 AND I HAD THAT SURGERY DOWN.
I BROEKN MY GROWTH PLATE IN THE KNEE,DISLOCATED IT AND CRACKED DWON THE SIDE. get it downits worth it.good luck

---

You need surgery to fix your unstable patella. Your surgeon will probably recommend an osteotomy (bone cutting) to reposition your tibial tubercle, which is where your patellar tendon inserts. Based on what you have written, you would probably benefit greatly from surgery. Physical therapy for quadriceps strengthening may be beneficial, but if that hasn't helped so far then surgery is the next best answer. Good luck.

---

Well, I have only dislocated my knee once, and did not have to have surgery. I just wore a brace that fit my whole leg, and could only bend it so many degrees. It still took 6-8 weeks to recover from, and I am not sure if I could dislocate my knee again. When I dislocated my knee, my doctor gave me some exercises to do, a lot of them was keeping my leg flexible, one exercise I really remember is, I laid down on the floor, right in between a door, and put the leg I dislocated right on the door frame to stretch it, it may be hard at first, but after a while you will be able to stretch your leg really well, but make sure that you do it with both legs, because you would not just want one flexible leg, and one not! I hope this helps. I might would do the surgery, so I won't risk dislocating it again, because it would probably take the same time to heal the other way. If not, just try to keep your legs strong so it will give you less risk of dislocation. (and always keep them flexible!

---