Has anyone here broken their patella and if so how are you getting on?

Hi Etta, My ex wife had no patella on her left knee when I met her because it had been badly smashed in a car accident. She spent a long time learning to walk again without limping and eventually could run a little. I met her at this stage. Several times she slipped over because her leg was not very stable and she would tear the ligaments again. She would be in agony and her knee would refuse to bend (knee injury trauma reaction). The first few times this happened the hospital put her knee in plaster till it healed. The trouble with this was that her leg muscles wasted away and she had to build them up again each time. The next time she fell and wrenched it badly she refused plaster and used a support bandage only. This allowed her to keep using her leg properly and when she could bend it again, made much faster progress. Over time and with care she stopped slipping so often and when she did she could stop her knee being wrenched. She can walk up hills very easily but walking down slopes is more difficult because due to the instability of the knee joint, her leg doesn't like lowering her weight downwards. Let's know if I can answer any more queries about it. My ex and I are very good friends and I can ring her for more info if I need to.

Hi Etta
My mother smashed her patella in a fall when she was in her late 70's. The surgeons wired together as many of the pieces as they could and it took quite a while to heal as she had severe osteoporosis. She did exercises every day to keep all the crumbly bits of her body working and lived to 83, relatively painfree.

I was involved in a nasty car accident three years ago and while I didn't fracture my patella, I had multiple fractures of my right femur and had a rod installed to hold it together. My knee has played up since, due to sloppy tendons and cartilege but I do ongoing physio to build up the muscles around the knee. During recovery, I had a lot of trouble with hyperextension (the knee bending backwards). With exercise, this seldom happens now and I can move freely with very little limping. Like Mike's ex wife, I find it easier going up slopes than going down.

I don't know how long ago you damaged your patella, but keep doing your exercises. I've been told I will have to exercise daily for the rest of my life to keep my injured areas mobile. Good luck. Janine

Hi Mike and Janine
I broke my patella last September while up town, slipped on wet paving stones, my right leg went forward when I slipped and I came down on my left patella. Terribly painful. Had an op 2 days later, kneecap all wired togther. My patella has healed very well, surgeon very pleased with that. I had a velcro leg brace on my leg for 6 weeks and could only bend knee to 60 degrees. I have been having physio at the hospital until half way through last month when I was told that my knee is coming along very well and don't need physio any more. I went to see my doctor and she referred me to the in-house physio, this is covered by ACC. Anything to do with the public hospitals these days they try and save money. My left leg is still quite weak and have to build up the muscles around knee plus at the top of my leg. I also go to the local pool and use the spa, this is great for getting the knee moving again. I also find it easier going up slopes than coming down, although I have a friend who has a driveway on a steep slope and will go up there once a week and have a walk up and down the drive. I find going down steps very difficult also. Yes I have been told an injury like this takes a long time to heal 1-2 years so I have a way to go. Have to go and see the surgeon about June to arrange surgery to have the wires taken out as they are very restricting.

how do you get on with getting on and off low things you have to sit on Ella? i have had a damaged knee and it was excruciating getting up and down into a sitting position. The loo was real bad, and I found out later I could have gor an inset to make it higher.
the bath was an education..lol. But i mastered that.

Hi Bobbity
If I want to get down onto the floor I have to slide down against a chair as cannot get down the normal way. To get up again, here i am pretty flexible, I twist myself around so I have my two hands on the floor and standing on my feet and push myself up. If I want to wash the floors and dont use the mop have to lean over to wash them. Yes I found the loo real bad to start with as knee just wouldn't bend. Cant do much gardening, restriction here again. Real pain, but I have to keep telling myself there are people out there far worse than me. I wouldn't try to get into the bath as I wouldn't get out again. Have been using this seat that ACC issued me to go over the bath for my shower. Had a shower last night without it, this took some doing as I am scared of falling even though I have a rubber mat in the bath. As the PT said this fear is in the brain and now I have to train my brain otherwise, as I wont get over the fear. Yes a knee injury takes a long time to heal, I have been going to a site called Knee Geeks on the net and got a lot of good information from that as my surgeon hasn't been very forth coming.

oh that's great Etta..you are handling it so well. it is something that one must handle of course or become incapacitated.
i understand the fear of falling. i have had heaps of falls and now I'm ultra careful. My knee was just ligaments, but took about 3 years before I was confident that I would be pain free each day. Recently it has revisited for some reason and is very restricting, but as you say, it is nothing compared to those worse off.

Hi Bobbity
Glad to hear that you have come along okay from your knee injury. I am taking each day as it comes, doing my exercises that the pt gives me and see her once a week - next week it will be once every 2 weeks. It is just gone 6 months since I have my fall, it seems far longer than that. I certainly have to take it easy at times and give the leg a rest otherwise I will pay for it that night when I am in bed. Anyway it is just a matter of taking each day as it comdes and getting on with life as the older you get time seems to go so fast.

Greetings to All!
I just spent some time looking rather fruitlessly for topics on what exercises to do after breaking a patella. Bless you all for having the most helpful info I have found yet.

Broke my left knee last August 2, had surgery that removed a crumbly lower 1/3 of the knee. Had terrible pain for over 2 months, and thankfully I'm mostly pain free now. But, as many have said, the leg muscles are sadly depleted, and haven't been sure just what to do to rehab it. Have been taking several walks a week with my walking poles, which, by the way, I heartily recommend. The sticks are great for support and stability. They are green though, and I look like a giant praying mantis. (Don't know if you have them in New Zealand. I'm a bit north of you, in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC.)

Otherwise, a few times a week I use my stationary bicycle. Swimming does sound like a good suggestion. Any other exercises anyone can recommend?

Thank you so much for this discussion!

Thank you Etta!
Went to the Knee Guru site and printed out some of the exercises. This is the best site I've found for a great batch of exercises which I've dutifully printed out. I vow to start on the intermediate ones today. Thanks again, Etta; great stuff indeed! Do hope you are doing well. I'm so grateful to all of you for this valuable conversation and info.