Good day everyone,

Hope someone will be able to give me some advice here ... I have had ACL reconstruction to both knees over 10 years ago. Both are hamstring repair. About 5 years ago I turned over in bed and kind of 'left my left knee behind'. I experienced a shooting pain in the knee and it was sore for a few days afterwards. At the time I suspected I had maybe torn the graft. As the pain got better I didn't do anything about. From time to time over the years since I have had a few times where I have managed to 'put my knee out'. It is sore at the time but I was able to 'click' it back in. There was no pain afterwards and so I didn't do anything about it. This was kind of what used to happen before my ACL reconstructions. It was always the left knee that gave way never the right. This is why i suspected maybe I had torn the graft.

(Quick location update - I currently live in Zambia but had my operations at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, London, UK)

Anyway, about a month ago, I tucked my leg under my chair at work and felt my knee go again. This time however I couldn't get it back into place. after trying a few times I decided it would probably be best to go to the doctor. The pain got progressively worse and worse! At the doctor the general physician said my knee was not out of joint I must have just twisted it. I could feel it wasn't right and could actually feel the bone on the outside of my knee that isn't usually there. They did x-rays but again siad it looked fine. I insisted they call and orthopaedic specialist. The pain now was unbareable - even after two pain killer injections!

When the orthopaedic surgeon examined me she also said it was not out of place. I was in too much pain for here to do much of an examination so she gave me a local anaesthetic into the knee joint. Once my knee was knumb I managed to try and straighten my knee. It was really hard to do and just before it straighten completely it kind of twisted and clicked back into place. Her reaction was ... "Oh it was a rotational dislocation!"

The day after I went for an MRI - apparently the graft is still in place and there is no meniscal tear just some tiny foreign bodies visible in the joint.

Oh I should probably also pint out here I am hypermobile to an extent ... When I straighten my legs my heels can lift off the floor to an angle of 5 degrees.

What I would like to know is, is this rotational instability going to get worse? Is there something I should be doing to prevent it happening again?

I feel quite strong now and don't have much pain as such ... just it tends to ache when I have been sitting for a while.

What worries me is how easy it popped out this time and how I could not pop it back in again myself. I never want to go through that pain again!!

Thank you for any help I can get ... sorry if my story was so long winded!

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