Hello, I am a 29F who is now on my 3rd patellar dislocation. The first time I had a full dislocation where my kneecap was on the side of my leg and had to be pushed back in place, no major ligament tears, but the doc had described "floating tissue" which at the time we did nothing about. Since then, I've partially dislocated my knee 2 additional times, the most recent occurring about 2 weeks ago as well as one patella fracture (from 2nd dislocation). I'm making an appointment with my PCP to discuss referral to an Ortho and potentially surgical options.
When discussing this with my family they mentioned that any Ortho may just be trigger happy to get a surgery in their books, but how do I know if it's actually needed for me? I'm inclined to move forward with surgery as I don't want to be worried about this happening again and again when I'm older, but would surgery really get me to a point where I can return to my normal levels of activity with confidence in the stability of my body? Or will I still be forever having to alter how I choose to exercise and stay fit anyway?
Not necessarily trying to get medical advice, but I'm just curious as to what factors were at play for anyone that did get the related surgeries for knee dislocations and how their lives were shifted after.
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