Thanks NYDDB. Ouch, your knee looked nasty too. Did they get to the underlying cause of why yours pops out? It's taken 3 arthroscopies and 2 MRI's for them to finally (I hope) find out what the issue is.
I have a thigh to ankle leg brace to wear for a couple of weeks when it happens and I've now got a 'sports' stabilizer which I will be wearing when I'm out with the dogs to feel a little bit more supported. The physio wasn't keen on me wearing it too much as the muscles wouldn't build back up but I think for the next few weeks I'll have to.
You know, this knee dislocation issue has plagued me since I was a kid (started at about age 9.) My right knee was the worst, but my left also slipped out of place on a semi-regular basis. Sometimes it would slip back in place, other times it would not...extremely painful!
Nobody else in my family has issues with their knees, or any joint for that matter. The best possible guess is that because I was born pigeon-toed, and had to wear steel corrective braces for awhile when I was a baby, that this somehow screwed up the alignment of my knee-caps (I am saying this because I read of another woman who had the exact same issue as a baby, then knee dislocation problems as an adult- her doctors believed this was the cause.)
All my surgeries have been full scalpel surgeries- no arthroscopies. The last one on my worst knee (right) they had to put in a permanent screw to realign the tendon to my tibia, making the "track" of my kneecap more centered. So far, so good-- and it's been a couple of decades.
But, even today, I have to be mindful, as my left kneecap (as in photo) will be prone to dislocate if the conditions are right. And, also, both knees are prone to arthritis, due to all the previous trauma.
Good times...
I am so familiar with braces and splints...but I would still wear the supportive wrap, at least when out with the dogs---it really does help!
All the best for strong knees in the future- keep me posted as to how things go.
