??? Locking Knee...Meniscus, Fibula Dislocating, Subluxing?

[AndrewDixon]

Hi, I'm new here and I have a situation that may be of interest.

I'm looking for info, not really a solution on my locking knee and what feels like dislocating fibula heads.

About 6 times in my life I have locked my right knee.... Started happening a few years ago. In a certain posture...say moving from a pigeon pose position forward to half kneeling, my right knee has locked. It locks at about 90 degrees and I cant move it more than a couple of degrees without feeling like I'm going to mash up my meniscus.

When it locks there is a large clunk at the fibula head... It feels like it almost dislocates, but it never does. Just locks. It unlocks when it chooses to(for no apparent reason), and there is no clunk back or anything noticeable. It has locked for a few seconds and last time it was 45minutes. Knee hurts a little for about a week after.

My left knee does something similar if I try to sit with my soles of feet together and knees are well past 90 degrees of flexion. The fibula head clunks and I have to straighten the leg. Never locked the left, but I've had a pretty significant clunk.

I've had a previous lateral meniscetomy on the left and the left knee clunked like that when I was a kid.

I had a previous ACL and medial meniscus repair on the right knee about 20 years ago. Well before this locking started.

I'm not convinced the meniscus on the right is torn and causing the lock.... I could be wrong, but there is a small about of discussion about the fibula subluxing and causing this. I also read in threads on somasimple that subluxation is not a thing, so is it a sort of dislocation?

Or am I full of shit and my meniscus is torn? Either way, I'm not going to do much about it. I just avoid the position that causes the lock. I am curious if anyone has any experience with this. I think meniscus could be a red herring in some of the cases I've heard on the net.

[marcel]

Sounds like you may want some objective diagnosis ie opinion (ortho?)
Is there laxity of your cruciate ligg.? Mostly it is a meniscus problem if you have real (in contrast to the feeling of) locking of the knee.

[Diane]

Andrew, the only way you'll find out is by taking your leg to people be examined physically. It's kind of hard to give advice about anything like this in an internet forum.
Sorry, and all the best.

[AndrewDixon]

I appreciate the comments..

I was really wondering if anyone was familiar with fibula head issues and locking knees.

Hasn't happened for about 6 months... Its one of those issues that you could spend a long time trying to figure out and its really not a big issue anyway.

[marcel]

Here's how a dislocated tib.fib. can look like
http://openi.nlm.nih.gov/detailedres...-2-158-1&req=4

[Martin L]

I don´t have any solid information, only anecdote, to share but..

I had similar issues when I did grappling and jiujitsu. Probably most common when externally rotating my hip and flexing my knee, reaching with my foot. Felt like what I´d imagine a snapping hip would feel like but with locking of the knee as well. Had to internally rotate my hip and push out with my knee joint to get it loose. Would be sore for a while afterwards.

I have no meniscal issues or any of the like that I´m aware of. Haven´t happened since I stopped grappling.

Also had a young patient with the same issue, apparently he had "strange" knees according to the ortho, but nothing really came of it afaik. He used to get hamstring pain and cramps with exercise and I´ve wondered if the femoral biceps cramping was the issue.

[Rick Carter]

I appreciate the comments..

I was really wondering if anyone was familiar with fibula head issues and locking knees.

Hasn't happened for about 6 months... Its one of those issues that you could spend a long time trying to figure out and its really not a big issue anyway.

For many years I've put up with a left proximal partially dislocating fibular head. AFAIK there is not a good "fix". Surgical pinning leads to ankle problems so for me I am aware of what movements and positions to avoid and also how to reduce it when it dislocates.

There is a guy in Colorado that has a procedure he developed, I attached 3 pdf articles, and I think there are a couple of docs in France doing something similar. I'm waiting to see it others start doing the same or similar procedure(s) before offering up my body.

[AndrewDixon]

For many years I've put up with a left proximal partially dislocating fibular head. AFAIK there is not a good "fix". Surgical pinning leads to ankle problems so for me I am aware of what movements and positions to avoid and also how to reduce it when it dislocates.

There is a guy in Colorado that has a procedure he developed, I attached 3 pdf articles, and I think there are a couple of docs in France doing something similar. I'm waiting to see it others start doing the same or similar procedure(s) before offering up my body.

Interesting... Ill check that out. It would be nice to get the knees stabilized. I'd need pretty good odds before going under the knife.

[AndrewDixon]

I don´t have any solid information, only anecdote, to share but..

I had similar issues when I did grappling and jiujitsu. Probably most common when externally rotating my hip and flexing my knee, reaching with my foot. Felt like what I´d imagine a snapping hip would feel like but with locking of the knee as well. Had to internally rotate my hip and push out with my knee joint to get it loose. Would be sore for a while afterwards.

I have no meniscal issues or any of the like that I´m aware of. Haven´t happened since I stopped grappling.

Also had a young patient with the same issue, apparently he had "strange" knees according to the ortho, but nothing really came of it afaik. He used to get hamstring pain and cramps with exercise and I´ve wondered if the femoral biceps cramping was the issue.

I had to stop jujitsu because if this...

[smith]

Maybe belly to belly throws instead of trips/foot sweeps in Judo?

Also consider wrestling, less rotation at hip- ruskies coach a style of explode into or away from an opponent. No rotation needed. Their wrestlers tend to bo older, so they can actually do it, ha.

[Martin L]

Maybe belly to belly throws instead of trips/foot sweeps in Judo?

Also consider wrestling, less rotation at hip- ruskies coach a style of explode into or away from an opponent. No rotation needed. Their wrestlers tend to bo older, so they can actually do it, ha.

I actually never had any issues in the stand up (a few patellar sublocations on my "bad" knee from jumping on one leg notwithstanding).

Mainly for me it happened while in full or half guard. I think trying to hook a triangle set off a few incidents, or just straining to reach for a hook on a leg.

Weird thing really, hasn´t happened for years now.