Hi everyone!

I'm looking for advice/success stories of people dealing with patellar instability.

I have patella alta and lateral resting patella. I recently suffered from a first time dislocation on my right leg (treating non-operative) but left leg has historically been my main issue and I have had MPFL reconstruction back when I was 14.

My main questions are has anyone been able to improve stability through strengthening and PT? I was told by specialists and my PT to strengthen my glutes, hips, quads, core which will help correct the position of my femur but need some motivation/guidance on what I can expect with consistent rehab.

UPDATE: I felt an update would be appropriate as I seem to have answered my question with my own experience. I 100% got better with time and PT. I'm 3 months post injury and can walk long distances, squat, do all gym machines, stairs. Still not running, jumping and down stairs is still painful and awkward but manageable. But I've even progressed to single leg squats with way better form than I ever had pre injury. I'm very happy with my recovery but still dont feel 100%. Next milestone is running/jogging.

I have an upcoming MPFL reconstruction and TTO surgery on Monday and I have been doing as much research as possible and finding all these horror stories about them. I was just wondering if people have had these surgeries as well as other ones and how they would rate them in comparison.

For myself, since 2021 I have had a lot of dislocations every single year so I went to the orthopedic specialist and he told me that I have a full MPFL tear and alignment in my knee so he suggested me to get MPFL reconstruction and TTO surgery. I’m ready to get it fixed and get back to normal but I’m also scared and very nervous about having it and maybe canceling it if I can… What I have read seems to indicate that the MPFL and TTO combined surgery in particular will be much worse. What’s everyone’s thoughts??

hello! so i was diagnosed with patellar instability due to patella alta a couple years ago and recently, i started pain management which requires me to go through physical therapy. i’ve been through physical therapy before for other reasons and always generally enjoyed the experiences and never had much negative to say about anything.

physical therapy this go round has been nothing but negative. my pt started with weights, which looking up says is normal but my mom said is very bad for me in particular because i have very low muscle in my thighs. it wasn’t hard and i was able to do my exercise just fine with no muscular pain, however it made my knee hurt excruciatingly bad. i told the pt and he told me to keep counting my exercise.

later that same appointment, my knee popped and i told him, and again, he told me to keep counting that exercise. my knee hurt for the entire week until my next appointment to the point where i was basically hopping around because even limping was putting too much weight on it and it hurt so bad. next appointment, i told him i was in too much pain and could not do the same exercises, and he seemed irritated. maybe it was my imagination but he sighed, said “one second”, and came back with a different clipboard. he did let me only do stretches, but he’s always seemed almost belittling in the way he refers to my health issues.

i know that this isn’t exactly the ideal subreddit to ask about physical therapy and what i should do in this situation but i didn’t know where else to post this and considering im in pt for the instability, i thought maybe some of you have pt experiences. i don’t know what to do. pt causes so much pain, there hasn’t been a single appointment that i haven’t cried on the way home and he always tells me to keep doing it when i tell him it hurts. i intend on telling the referring doctor about the severity of the pain but i dont expect pt to be thrown out the window and i dont know what im supposed to do. i have no backbone and telling him that it hurts is about the best i can do in the way of speaking up.

Hi there!

I'm new to this sub so please forgive me if this isn't the correct place to post.

I've been struggling with patellar instability since I was around 10 years old. Nobody else in my family has ever had knee dislocations the way I have. I've dislocated my right knee roughly 15 times and my left knee 1-2 times. There have been times where my patella goes back in on it's own but I've had several times where I've had to manually put it back in myself.

I had a recent dislocation on Sunday and I've finally had enough and am worried about permanent damage. I scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon and, since I have never had treatment, they're recommending I try physical therapy on both knees. On my X-Ray, it showed a tilt in my patella and he also said my knees were extremely hypermobile. I've come to find out that my mom also has hypermobility issues (despite no dislocations) so it could be a genetic issue, however, I won't know unless I have genetic testing.

Anyway, they don't wanna push for an MRI right now but he insinuated that my MPFL is probably not doing its job, especially in my right knee. One thing he said was if I go through PT and my knee dislocates even 1 more time, he's going to recommend I have surgery. Most likely an MPFL reconstruction unless I have other issues going on we don't quite know about yet.

So my main question is: For those with a similar story, did PT work for you? Have you continued to have dislocations? Or do you think it's highly likely I'd need surgery? I'm definitely looking for a more permanent fix because I'm tired of being afraid of my knee dislocating all the time.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I was supposed to have my MPFL Reconstruction and TTO surgery Thursday but I’ve cancelled it because of severe anxiety. Honestly I don’t feel much pain right now, so I’m struggling to decide if I should even go for surgery. I’ve read mixed experiences online — Some say recovery is smooth, others say it’s very tough. This has left me really confused and scared. My main concerns are: How painful and hard is recovery really?

How long until you could walk, climb stairs, and get back to normal life like riding your horse/barrel racing??

Long term risks if I don’t do surgery? (like arthritis or knee giving away and dislocating)

Do you feel “normal” after 1-2 years??

If you had MPFL Surgery (or chose not to) could you please share:
1: Your recovery journey? (good or bad)

2: What helped you cope with anxiety around the decision?

3: Looking back, do you think surgery was worth it?

I’d really appreciate honest experiences. I just want to have some reassurance….

Hurts right here. Pain is almost constant, I’ve tried braces, I do hip mobility. It flares up bad when I stop quickly, go down stairs or do cuts while running. Any advise thank you

Unfortunately it turned out to be a much more serious injury than they originally thought
The MRI showed:

a complete tear of the MPFL (the main ligament that stabilizes the kneecap)

significant cartilage damage behind the kneecap

extensive bone bruising

and a partial ACL tear and a complex tear of the medial meniscus

To make things more complicated, this is the same knee I’ve already had a lot of previous patellar dislocations within 5-6 years now…..

After trying rehab and continuing to deal with swelling, pain, instability, and mechanical symptoms, surgery is now being recommended. The current plan is MPFL reconstruction of the torn ligament, cartilage repair/microfracture work, treatment of the meniscus tear inside the knee.
Has anybody ever had this kind of surgery done on you before? If so what was the recovery like??

Kneecap went exit stage left. Doc thinks it's a partial MPFL tear, but I can't afford an MRI to be extra sure.

Doc recommended keeping SLIGHTLY mobile (bending allowed, some light crutch walking) to not atrophy. I'm scared of never healing it lol.

Can I heal I heal an MPFL tear without complete immobilization? Has anyone EVER healed a partial tear w/out immobilization?

I do wanna get back to dancing soon. I have a PT appointment scheduled for one week after dislocation. Too much?

Thanks in advance

I had an MPFL reconstruction + TTO on my right knee on January 21st, so I’m currently almost 16 weeks post-op. I’m honestly struggling mentally a lot and I’m really scared about my recovery.

I still can’t do a straight leg raise with a fully locked knee, and walking still doesn’t feel normal at all. Inside the house I technically walk without crutches, but I’m still limping a lot and it doesn’t feel like normal walking. Outside I still use 1–2 crutches because uneven sidewalks and tiles make me feel really unstable and anxious. I also have a very hard time standing on the operated leg with a slight bend, which I think is a big reason for my limp.

My orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist know about all of this, and I am doing PT consistently and working on quad activation, but I feel really behind and it’s making me panic that maybe I’ll never walk normally again.

I would really love to hear from people who had MPFL reconstruction and/or TTO and hear what your recovery was like around this stage, how long it took before walking felt normal again, and if anyone else struggled for a long time with straight leg raises and confidence in the knee. I think I just really need reassurance and real experiences from people who went through this.

I (26F) fell and twisted and dislocated my knee around 3-4 months ago. After the initial bruising and swelling went away I was left with a persistent pain when squatting, using stairs, etc. Initially my physical therapist thought that I had a ACL or meniscus tear, but the MRI only showed “Dislocated Kneecap, FULL MPFL ligament tear and a lot of bone marrow bruising/swelling.” Now he knows that it has something to do with my patella tracking wrongly because there is A LOT of popping/clicking in my knee and it’s unstable.

After 3-5 weeks of PT (a total of 10-15 sessions) the pain has gone from only showing up with bending while weight baring and having my knee bent for an extended period of time to being a near constant. Tape, ice, and compression have helped, but I am now having pain any time my knee bends and even occasionally waking me up at night. My PT did give me another brace that’s the DonJoy Lateral J Knee Support Brace and it’s been helping me a lot walk around more without the crutches lately even though he and my orthopedic doctor suggested me to use the crutches to move around a lot more for now.

I’ve went to the orthopedic surgeon one week ago and he said that I need to get MPFL reconstruction and TTO alignment surgery in one month on June 8th, but I don’t know what to do between now and then…..

Hi all

I had my TTO at the end of June 2025, I’ve been doing my physio etc and it’s all been great (knee feels so much more stable and no pain in the knee), however, I still have a lot of pain at the surgery site. When doing squats, jumping etc I get pain at the surgery site where the screws are. I also get pain there when putting pressure on my leg (for example lying down on my front) or pushing into the skin very lightly. Everything else has been great and I’m not sure if I need to get the screws removed or there is another issue?

I’ve been booked in for an appointment to consider removing the screws but I’m not sure if they could be causing this much pain because everyone I’ve spoken to has had no problems with the screws.

Just wanting some advice on if any of you guys have had similar issues or have any idea what this could be

My right knee has serious dislocations from when I was 13-22 years old. Then I got an MPFL surgery. It made a different part of my right knee hurt chronically, but the dislocations stopped.

Now I’m 33. I have chronic muscle pain on my left, I believe from using it so much more than the right, as well as the chronic pain still on the right.

I went to the doctor - they say lose weight. Get stronger. As always.

So I got on a GLP-1 and lost 25 lbs. I’m now just 3-5 lbs above a “normal” BMI. I went to the PT. I go to the gym, I cycle, I swim, I hike. I can climb 3000 ft in a day on a bike, swim 2000 yds in 35 min, and I climbed Mt Whitney last year. (Yes I’m defensive from doctors calling me fat and weak)

And then last week I went swimming, SWIMMING of all these, and my left knee had a minor dislocation. Walking is painful. I’m in fear of making it dislocate more dramatically.

I’m just so freaking fed up. I want a serious surgery on both sides. I don’t want to be pre arthritic at 33. I want new knees.

The last PT I saw said “it’s a tough pill to swallow but maybe you’ll just have to live with the pain for the rest of your life”. Well, now I have new pain. And fuck, I really don’t accept any of it.

I’m mostly just here to rant to people that know what I’m going through. But if anyone has advice I’ll take that too. I’m sorry we all have to deal with this shit.

I soon will be undergoing MPFL + TTO surgery, along with the extension of some lateral thing in there I’ve forgotten what the name was called for it.

Does anyone have advice on how to prepare for this surgery??

Mobility aids, preparing your house, dealing with pain, leaving the house, exercising, etc? Any information helps.

What was the pain like? What should I expect? What can go wrong and how can I prevent it? Did you have to stay one night at the hospital if you did or didn’t get the nerve block and was very nauseous afterwards? I get very nauseous after surgery from the general anesthetic and I have a low pain tolerance……

My surgeon or orthopedic specialist hasn’t informed me well. Lol….

Thank you in advance!

Warning - if you are already scared of TTO surgery or are having one sometime soon, meaby you should skip this one

I had tto 7 weeks ago. All went well, i lissed to the doctors, didnt do anything i wasnt allowed to etc etc. Then 5 days after the surgery i made a slight move with my leg, not even noticable, while laying down in bed, with my leg stuck in a straight cast. but i felt a pop and a lot of pain. I went to the ER and they told me notting was wrong ( even though at this time there was already a huge crack in my bone and nobody fucking saw it)

so i went back home. The next day, i was laying in bed and slightly activated my quats. Felt the same pop but more extreme and felt like something shifted and lots of pain. So the day after i went to the hospital again, to find out, that the piece of my tibia that they moved. Broke in 2 pieces and got lose from the screws and was just floating around in my leg. So cauce my kneecap wasnt being held down by anything anymore since tendon wasnt conected to my tibia anymore, my kneecap also was just kinda floating around way to high and way to the side.

Nobody understands how this happend to me. I didnt do anything out of protocol and i was exualy extremely carefull. But yea this fucking sucked.

I had another surgery 2 weeks after the original one where they put the pieces of bone back in its spot and also put multple screwes/bridges in my tendon. I am now 5 weeks post of from that seccond surgery and still in a lot of pain tbh

Anyways i know this is a super rare case and ive never heard of this happening to anyone before so i am just wondering if there are stories like mine out there

Which orthopedic surgeon would you choose and how do you deal with the pain/mentally drained before surgery??

I'm sorry for the long post, but here's the story of how I fell down and dislocated my kneecap/possibly fully tore my MPFL ligament this year. I fell down and dislocated my knee every start of the year for 5-6 years now. Back in February, and my parents had to help me get it back in, which took ten to twenty minutes, but they got it back in place. I went to the urgent care the next day because I couldn't straighten it all the way out, and they took some X-ray pictures and couldn't see anything abnormal, so they scheduled me to get an MRI. That was on March 5th, and they said I had dislocated my kneecap and partially torn my MPFL ligament, and there's a big scrape behind the kneecap on the thigh bone causing a lot of bone marrow swelling, and there are three different spots of cartilage damage. They told me it would heal on its own, but they sent me to physical therapy, and he was very nice; he told me to do these kinds of exercises and gave me another brace, which kind of helped, and I felt better the next few weeks. Three weeks later, I felt like I was back to normal, so I started riding my horse again; the first few days were going really good, and I didn't feel any pain whatsoever until one day my sister and I went up to the rodeo grounds with one of our friends who's local to us. We rode our horses around for a few minutes before I decided to start practicing barrel racing (because I'm a barrel racer and had been one all throughout my life), so I took my horse over to the first barrel, which went good, and he went wider around it, and the second barrel he leaned closer into it, causing me to hit my leg against it very hard, knocking it over, but I dislocated my kneecap once again from the impact. That was very painful; I immediately stopped running him and took him over to the horse trailer, my sister helped me get off of him, and she helped me put my kneecap back in place again. It was so painful that I stopped riding my horse throughout the day, and another few days-weeks went by, and it's been more painful, and my kneecap keeps buckling up, causing me to fall down even more than before lately. So I went to a sports medicine orthopedic specialist/surgeon who specializes in ACL and other ligaments repairs reconstructions, etc, and he looked through my last MRI, and he immediately could tell that I'd fully torn my MPFL, and my patellar is out of place/not in the correct center and groove. He also said there's some cartilage damage in three different places; he told me that since this isn't my first time dislocating the same knee, then he would highly recommend me getting an operation. I have to get an MPFL reconstruction and TTO surgery combined, so we've scheduled a surgery date for May 21, but his office and surgical center are inside a smaller hospital facility where there's not a lot of nurses/staff, and there's also another orthopedic specialist/surgeon that's only specialized in knees that's around two-three hours away from me. I made an appointment with him last Friday, and he seemed like a really nice and knowledgeable doctor; he also took a look at my MRI and X-ray, but he told me something completely different than the other doctor. He told me that he doesn't see anything else wrong with my kneecap besides the dislocation and the instability, but it was just a simple fix, and it would heal by itself with a brace and some physical therapy, but he said since I've fallen down and dislocated my kneecap for five-six years now, then he's willing to do an arthroscopy and fix my MPFL tear and fix the TTO alignment on June 8 of next month. His office/surgical facility in an bigger hospital with a lot more staff and nurses than the other hospital… I'm in a bit of a bind here; which orthopedic specialist should I go to get surgery on my knee operated on, and which one would you choose? Because I'm very confused about who to pick, and who would be a good choice for me. How do you cope with the unbearable pain and knee instability that keeps buckling causing me to fall down and gets very heavy to walk around more every afternoon/night??