recent dislocated patella

If your patella dislocates, it has a reason. Mine also dislocated for the first time 10 years ago. It reoccured a few times, but 2 years ago I started to have pain canstantly. Went to an OS (a different one than 10 years ago) who did X-rays and a scan and diagnosed me with chondromalacia patellae and said I had almost no femoral groove, my patella was subluxed and sitting too high. PT, meds, brace didn't help, had a lateral release (release of the lateral retinaculum so patella will track more medially) which failed. Knee is still the same. Some days I have to watch every step, my kneecap clicks and grinds all the time when bending and I'm glad if I have one painfree day. Now I'm facing major surgery, which I hope to avoid but things are not looking too good, I mean if I don't want a TKR at 35 I'll need the op. I was in plaster after my first 2 dislocations for 6 weeks, but as a nurse working on orthopedics I can tell you, when you where in cast, your muscles become weaker by the day. You'll need PT to strenghten your Quads, which are important for your patella-tracking. Last but not least, I can understand you are afraid of any type of surgery, but I think there are some great orthopedics in the UK with a good knee-reputation. If you're not happy with your knee-condition, go and see a kneespecialist. I live in Belgium and as for knee-surgery we can compete with the US. Big difference : in the US they do a lot of surgery outpatient, here we have to stay at least on night in hospital. If you have any questions, mail me. Hope your knee gets better soon. Leen