Patella Injury - Are You Suffering?

Have you recently suffered a Patella injury?

If you suffer from and kind of knee injury you'll know difficult and frustrating it can be. The knees play a key part in helping support and distribute your body weight, so any injury causes a lot of difficulty.

As humans we're always on our feet which make it hard for a knee injury to heal. We're always walking, bending, twisting and putting pressure on our knees.

The Patella is a small triangular shaped flat bone in front of the knee relied upon to protect the knee joint. The Patella is an easy area of the knee to injure since it's used all the time to distribute your body weight.

A Patella injury can be very difficult to heal and can sometimes cause your knee cap to shift to one side which can leave you in serious pain and discomfort.

How to tell if you have a Patella Injury?

It can be difficult to tell if you have injured your Patella. Common signs can be a sore, aching feeling on your knee and you might find it difficult to move properly. Another common sign can be a popping or grinding feeling in the knee along with problems when trying to bend or straighten the knee joint.

Another common problem associated with Patella injuries is pain when sitting for a long time and often when walking down stairs. The pain is not generally associated with walking up stairs due to the mechanics of the knee and the greater amount of pressure on the knee when climbing down stairs.

If you know you're prone to knee difficulties such as arthritis then this can quickly develop into Patella conditions. There are many forms of support available to those suffering from these sorts of conditions such as knee braces and bandages.

Types of Patella Injury

Runner's Knee is a very common injury to the Patella - or Chondromalacia Patellae to give it its medical name. Runner's knee is caused essentially by over-using the knee joint. It occurs when the articular cartilage underneath the surface of the kneecap becomes irritated.

Housemaid's Knee - or Prepatellar Bursitis occurs from prolonged periods of kneeling. This is common with people that kneel for long periods of time such a gardeners and carpet layers.

Unstable kneecap - or Pattellar Dislocation/Subluxation is a painful condition of the knee joint. This condition occurs when the Patella doesn't track evenly within its groove on the femur and can become dislodged.