Patella alta and subluxation

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hello Dr.Jordan and Dr.Austin,

I have been diagnosed with Patella alta and PFPS 5 months back. I didn’t injure anywhere…I don’t know how it a started. I just did a new walking routine on the hilly roads in the month of August. I did it for a month. I just realised that I didn’t do it with a proper shoe. Those shoes were not very supportive and I did walk in the same shoe. Went to an Ortho and had MRI. MRI says that it’s patella alta and mild subluxation.
Started PT 3 and a half months back. No improvement even after the PT. I am still doing PT. I still have burning pain and swelling above my knee. What could be the reason for this? What else to do for this condition? I have the same burning pain for last 6 months. It burns whenever I sit down, stand and lying down. i.e legs bent and stretch straight.
I also did dry needling sessions as part of PT. That doesn’t help too…

What to do for this? Any other solutions recommended? How to recover from this?

2

We would disagree with this assessment (e.g., we don’t view “patella alta” as a problem), and much of the subsequent management plan you’ve described. This is a common situation we encounter relatively frequently.

I’d start by reading this article carefully: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog…ining-what-do/

Additional options we have include the knee rehab template, which is appropriate for this situation, and/or a one-on-one consult with one of our rehab coaches.

We do not recommend dry needling or any other sorts of passive modalities for this.