[ANON POST] Severe Knee Injury?

[orange_fell]

Hello! I'm having a little trouble researching about the treatments for what I'm doing to my MC in my fanfic

Comments

[canadian_kazz]

[landrews]

I don't know about the kneecap and this might not be relevant, but here in the US, instead of metal screws to hold the replaced ligaments in place, they can use screws made from cadaver bone and it just becomes part of your leg, so no metal leave-behinds. I have metal screws and plates in my jaw, but my knee is metal free!

[landrews]

Thanks for the reply. I was completely unaware of that! I thought metal screws/pins were the regular treatment. Makes a lot of sense that they use bone now. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[full_metal_ox]

So does the use of cadaver tissue require you to take an immune suppressant?

[tamtrible]

I Am Not an Expert, but... I'd imagine not, at least not for a small amount of bone tissue. If you do, it's probably only short-term. It's a small amount of tissue, it's non-living, and your body will replace it in time. Immune suppressants are primarily to keep your body from killing a living organ.

[tylik]

If I were wanting to do lasting harm to someone's knee, I would go after the cartilage. Particularly the cartilage at the top of the tibia, but the cartilage generally - because it recovers really, really badly.

Of course, the one problem with this whole scenario is that knee replacements are commonplace and pretty darned good. If anyone's knee is munged that much, they're likely to be encouraged to get a new one.

I would expect PT to be started within the first week after surgery, though it might be rather minimal at first.

[enveri]

^ My mother's patella was completely replaced with a prosthetic in both knees. She's had two prosthetics in her left knee, and was entirely without a knee joint for about 6 months (she had a lingering infection in the joint). In cases like that they put in a spacer and immobilize the joint. Fascinating stuff!

But speaking from personal experience, damage to the cartilage is excruciatingly painful.

[tylik]

A guy from my work has issues with his knee and cartilage, so that very possible as well.

I'm aware of the whole knee-replacement thing... It's kind of like the easy answer to my issue, except I really don't want that to happen, so I'm trying to think of a reason they WOULDN'T do that to him.

Thanks for your reply.

[elen_nare]

Not as serious as what you want to put your character through, but I had ligament problems in one knee - basically, the kneecap would snap out of place and snap back, until one time it didn't and I had to be taken to hospital to get it put right (hurt like hell!). MRI revealed that one of the ligaments was pretty much gone, so I had surgery. The doctor used tendon tissue from the upper leg to reconstruct the ligament, plus some metal hooks (think staple shaped, but bigger) to attach the kneecap to the tibia and prevent any further dislocation. The hooks don't have to be removed! I suppose they could be, but I don't think it's necessary, and I'd rather avoid more surgery, and any risk of another dislocation

[elen_nare]

Thanks for the reply! reading all these stories makes me realize how lucky I've been to not seriously injure myself, consider how active I am.

So immediately leaving the hospital was your leg in a splint? and how limited were you in between the surgery and the physio?

[elen_nare]

Yes, I had a splint (like this and this), with an elastic bandage underneath. When I was lying or sitting on the bed my mum would help me take them off - it was summer, with frequent powercuts, and I was boiling

[elen_nare]

You mentioned you waited a year before your surgery? How was your actual stay in the hospital after it... how long did you stay and what kind of tests were done?

[harmonybear]

Just adding my own anecdata...

About 2 years ago I dislocated my knee - and it went back in. Extremely painful at the time, but I didn't get it checked for about 3 months. By the end of that time I had floating cartilage that was causing agony and the leg to collapse frequently.

Surgery cleaned it up, but thanks to being hypermobile (and them NOT doing anything to keep it in place) my knee frequently slides in and out. Usually not painful, but I've got to stop what I'm doing and put it back in or it does start to hurt.

Possibly as a result (or me just being that lucky) I've started having hip issues on that side - subluxating and generalized pain/sticking. Pretty sure if my knee had behaved the hip wouldn't be this bad.