Knee Dislocation High School PE 504 Plan

I am a high school student who has dislocated my patella 6 times in my left knee since I was in the second greade, three times in the past three years. My patellas are both two times the normal size, and my knees are also poorly aligned so that the patella does not fit correctly into the spot where it is supposed to sit, which causes the patella to be more prone to dislocation.

Last September while running in a PE class I dislocated my patella. I went to see my doctor, who knowing about my past dislocations and realizing my likelyhood of having more dislocations, recomended that I have surgery on my left knee if I were to have another dislocation. Today, almost a year later, my knee is beggining to return to how it felt before I last dislocated it, but I absolutly do not take the risks I used to take with my knee.

My problem is that I still have to take another year of PE to fufill graduation requirements. My doctor says that I can go back to PE, even though I am likely to have another dislocation. I don't want to have another dislocation, and I don't want to have surgery at this time. I talked to my school counseler about my knee problems and he recomended I have a 504 plan meeting to make modifications to the PE curriculum so that I may participate.

Inorder to qualify for a 504 plan, which is "a legal document falling under the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973" I must have "a physical or emotional disability, or an impairment (i.e. Attention Deficit Disorder) that restricts one or more major life activities". Here is a link for 504 plan info: http://www.chtu.org/504.html#what More info can also be found by doing a google search for "504 plan".

So do I qualify for a 504 plan? Is the fact that I have a history of knee dislocations and the high likelyhood that I will have more due to significantly misaligned knees a physical disability? Is the fact that I am scared of having another one due to the excruciating pain involved an emotional disibility?

I just want to hear some peoples thoughts on this. If you have any experiences similar to this please share them. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Z

I too have had this problem for years. It started as a pre-teen and I am now 28 and still dealing with it, not really sure how to remedy it. Unfortunately, this has not gotten any better as time went on and, if I am not careful, this can happen every day. For me, it is very traumatic - not just physically which is usually brief but it is also mentally traumatic...the possibility of it happening prevents me from doing a lot of activities.

In school, I avoided as much PE in school as possible, often getting "notes" from doctors so as to cut down on much of the participation. Now I avoid things like skating, skiing, running, jogging, some exercises and I am careful and aware of many of my steps throughout the day. When it does occur, I am on the ground in seconds, clutching it in pain and disgust. I fractured my elbow once from landing on it, dislocated both at the same time, fallen down flights of stairs numerous times, have had it occur at the most embarrassing times (weddings, supermarkets, etc) and was stuck in a full leg cast for 6 weeks for having torn all the surrounding muscles.

I am now at the point where I am ready to have a family and I am very concerned about carrying a baby and doing normal things like walking down the stairs, bumping or brushing my knee against anything or just stepping wrong with a child in my arms. I was told when I was a teen that surgery was not recommended...I don't know if it was due to age or if it was due to the type of problem it was. If anyone has any advice or information to share on this as well, I would certainly appreciate it too...thanks...=)