Patella Fracture Health Video

A PCL tear occurs when someone falls on the front of the knee. Learn how to diagnose and treat a PCL tear in this medical video.

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Causes pain and swelling
Check for abnormal function
Immobilize the knee
Check for stability

About this Author

Charles A. Roth, M.D. works for the Andrews Institute, which is a world class facility that focuses on research and treatment of musculoskeletal issues. It is one of the premier orthopedic and sports medicine institutes in the nation and continues to build on that reputation while being lead by world renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, MD.

DR. CHARLES A. ROTH: A patella fracture is a fracture involving the triangular-shaped bone. This is the bone in the front of your knee. It sort of protects the soft tissues and the cartilages on the end of the femur. And so this injury occurs in auto accidents. It occurs in sports from direct blows to the front of the knee. What we're looking at here is a knee model. And as you can see, there is a tissue in front which is covering up the patella, which is as I show you here, the backside of the patella which has cartilage on it. And this patella slides and this is a type of injury--we're talking about is a patellar fracture that actually cracks through this tissue and sometimes rips through the overlying ligamentous tissues causing a separation and disconnection between the thigh bone and the tibia. Most fractures of the patella need surgery, unless they're totally nondisplaced which means the fragments are still in perfect position. But if the fragments are separated by two or three millimeters, they're going to require an incision repair of the bone fragments so that they're next to each other and then wiring or some type of suturing to put them together rigidly and hold them in place. Most patients that have a patellar fracture will need to go to the emergency room, have X-rays, and initially they are usually immobilized and then referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Then that orthopedic surgeon will decide if it's a nondisplaced fracture which can be treated in a splint or a cast, or if it's a displaced fracture which will require surgery. Most patellar fractures are healed in six weeks, and they can go back to normal activities.