broken patella recovery- no surgery

I'm glad to hear that you've had no pain because I think that would make things harder for you. Keep us updated on how you're doing, okay?

Two weeks ago I broke my patella, but did require surgery. Since is was in so many pieces, doc was unable to put it back together and removed in totally. One piece sliced my thigh muscle also. Can anyone tell me approx recovery time? I'm miserable to say the least!

I was in a Motorcycle accident which shattered my knee cap and broke my femur. That was Sept 20th/09. A rod was place inside the femur and screwed. The knee cap was wired and i was in a brace for over 2 months before bending even became and option. I've been to physio therapy 3 times a week for roughly 2 and a half months. I am now bending at 90 degress, but that is where i am having the problem. For the past 3 weeks i have been stuck at 90 degress while being forced. I comfortable resting at about 75 degrees. One thing they will do for you, and plan to do for me is too put you out, and force your knee the rest of the way, tearing the scar tissue and whatever else to get things moving. nervous? yes, there's always a risk. When fully conscious, i will be strapped in a CPM machine (still on meds) and will have my leg bending, and straightening. Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of pain i enjoy. Chins up and good luck to all!

Hi, i am 30 year old , had a bike accident in jan 2006 and broken my patella multi fracture , visisted Doctor in Apollo hospital , he did wired my knee cap with stainless stell wire ..i followed his instructions and physiotherapy religiously ..recovered good in 3 months and for last few year i had no problem and i could walk and run normally ,recently i visited doc and he suggested to remove wire since the sharp wire may hurt knee bone ....i will remove the wire in next month april 2010 . need suggestions that removing wire does create any problem ? or after that ?

%-) i broke my knee cap 5 weeks ago, doctor first sad he didnt wana do surgery yet because he wanted to wait for swelling to go down and then he could tell if any ligaments were torn. i had to come back first threew weeks, once a week to get new cast as because the swelling would go down, my cast goes from pretty much my penis to my toes and it is not a walk on cast. i have a very good doctor and he gave me lots of onfo on does and donts. pretty much there is not alot of does but there are a few that can help healing process.
DOES: lots of calcium is very important for healing process. 2. elevation is very important for first week and after that if u walk/crutch around to much n the pain gets worse, go back to elevation, elevation, elevation, elevation.
DONTS: smoking slows down the healing process alot. 2 steping on the cast or pressure on it is a big dont for me, some may b diferrant, doc should let u know. 3. DONT GO SWIMMING, lol, i thought i could get away w saran wraping cast and duct tape n garbage bag, the first three times i got it wet but i dried it w blow dryer and it was ok but the last time i did it i thought i had the expierment figured out, nope it was the worst one and i ended up w bad sore on bottom of my foot so i cut my own cast off for relief, thats another dont, lol, doc wasnt happy w me, but yeah no swimming, i didnt use heavy duty garbage bag wich im sure would have worked but im lil scared ta try again cause the sore sucked, but i have another month to go now doc said yesterday so i might, might just try again, lol. 4. dont do legs lifts, doc said most ppl want to to try building muscle but it slows down healing process. 5. dont cut ur own cast off and wear splint thinkin its ok, lol. 6. if u cut cast off n wear splint, dont bend ur leg at all, it is a big relief but its bad to do n could end up makin it worse n cause u to have surgery, the straighter ur leg the better. 7. dont drink alcohol, obviously drugs n alcohol r not good but alcohol is hard one if u lkike to drink, so is smoking. 9. dont use cast as weapon, or for a table, lol.
well i hope this is helpfull to some ppl, i have one more month and it sucks cause im a very hard worker n im a carpenter so moneys tight now, and baths are hard and so is poohing, lol. but ne ways this is way long but i hope it helps, and remember not every knee needs surgery right away, some times it is not neceesary, if ligaments r bad then yes, but if u can get away w o surgery then ur better off obviuosly. oh n i never said how i broke my knee, some drunk asswhole, im assuming, hit me and never stopped and i have no insurance, just left me in the road, nice huh. well hope i could help if i here ne more info i will post more, but theres always google n other comments so if i dont im sure there plenty helpful info thats not SSOOOOO LONG, LOL.

Hi, I have broken my kneecap, three weeks ago. And I have 7 more days to see the spec. The hosp. that I used, requires you to put a good faith deposit, even if you have great insurance, which I have. So until i come up with the extra money for a deposit, I have to wait to have my knee fixed, and hope that it does not get worse as I wait. I feel after three weeks of waiting to have it repaired, the knee is getting worse. Could anyone tell what the hect to do.

Hi. I am curious b/c I just fell on my patella hard while mtn biking. I could've used one stitch for the wound but decided against going to the ER. I had trouble going down stairs for 3 days, the knee was very stiff and took lots of Advil and iced it. My knee felt sore on the surface of the patella- sort of like how my patella felt post op for ACL surgery on my other knee where I got a patella graft. Now I am walking barely with a limp, can straighten my leg, bare all of my weight on that leg, do some balance exercises, and was satisfied w my own range of motion assessment, etc. Nonetheless, my knee feels funny because there's so much fluid in the cap and I feel in "swooshing" as I walk, but I feel barely any pain anymore. Further, when I palpated it, the parts of my knee cap move similarly to my other knee. Hopefully, the swelling resulted from trauma and embedded gravel. What do you think?

I fell on to a concrete floor and broke my knee cap. The orthopedic surgeon put my leg in an immobilizer because it had not moved out of place. A week later, it had displaced slightly and I had the choice to see if it would heal without moving further or have surgery. He said if it moved and healed out of place, the surgery would be more difficult. I opted for the surgery. The surgeon said with surgery, I would be able to start bending the knee sooner. He put two screws in to keep the two pieces together and I had a splint for a week. Now just the immobilizer and next week the staples come out.I think I will be getting therapy then. No problems so far. Only took pain meds for 2 days.
I think knee fractures take 4-6 weeks to heal.

Mine dosen't sound as serious. I fell on my knee while out with friends because some guy tripped me. I am 24. The doctors said we could let it heal but I would have problems later in life, so I went with the sergery. I'm going to horse racing at Keenland in lexington, Kentucky the next weekend. Well I want to go. Has anyone or have you heard anyone that get off the couch that goes out on crutches the next week after surgery?

I shattered my kneecap when I was 14 and am now 26 ... at the time my mother said it couldn't be that bad so stop complaining about the pain, just take some Tylenol, and get over it .... there was and is a vertical crack through the bone and a piece to the left of it that is just kind of floating that can be wiggled around by poking at it ... it is usually fine and causes me no trouble, but, once in a while it acts up and shoots pain that can knock the wind out of me but fades after a few hours  ... since I couldn't see a doctor on my own when it happened and didn't see it to be a big problem later I just ignored it and went on with life .... Unfortunately it is now starting to be a problem .. the sudden bursts of pain went from only once every few months and lasting hours at most to happening at least once a month and sometimes lasting a day or two ... not sure if seeing a doctor at this point would solve anything or not ... any opinions?

On September 9, I twisted my ankle in a pothole and fell, breaking the patella on my opposite leg. The bottom third was broken off, and that third was broken in half. September 10, they operated on my knee, drilling two holes through and tying it with surgical thread (as best I can tell). I'm in Taiwan and don't speak much of the language. The doctor hasn't mentioned physical therapy. I was in a plaster splint for several days and now I'm in a leg immobilizing brace. I don't know when I can get back to work (I'm a teacher). Doc encouraged me to stand and walk with a walker, but has made no mention of bending my leg. I feel really lost. I'm 23 and pretty far from home.

I just did the same thing. I was running and my right foot stepped into a pothole and I sprained my right ankle with an avulsion fracture.

I live in the UK and from what I've read here there are some similarities and some differences in the approach to treatment and rehab so I thought I share my story for members to compare with. 

I went back to work one month after my surgery. I was wearing a metal and Velcro leg brace. I continued to wear the brace for over a month. At the point I could walk fairly well except for stairs. Around Christmas I started being able to manage stairs while leaning on therailing. Now I can manage stairs okay so long as there aren't many. I have full range of bending in my knee. However squatting still is a long way from happening. Until the past month mykneewas quite tender to the touch. Now it is moderately tender. Slightly over 4 months into my recovery. Thanks for your care!

I broke my knee cap 16 months ago. It was not displaced originally but was starting to displace after a week or two. I opted for the surgery, spent 2 months in a brace, not allowed to bend my knee until it was healed. I have two screws in my knee cap, had over a month of rehab. It is all very painful and my knee still swells and hurts when I walk much. I would be very wary of a knee broken in 5 places that was not repaired surgically. My surgeon told me we could play the game of hoping it would heal without surgery but if it healed out of place, I would not be able to walk and it would be much worse to fix it surgically. Get another opinion.