Knee Injuries in Accident Victims

Dealing effectively with lawsuits where your client has suffered an injury to their knee requires a litigator to be familiar with the common medical problems specific to that area of the body. One such common diagnosis is chondromalacia patella, which means that there was a breakdown or softening of the cartilage in the knee. Instead of gliding smoothly across the bone, the kneecap rubs against it, therefore roughening the cartilage under the kneecap.

Trauma may also result from an acute injury, such as a contusion, fracture, dislocation, or tendon rupture. This kind of acute injury is often caused by a direct blow to the knee. But trauma can also occur from overuse, leading to tendinitis and bursitis, depending on the part of the knee involved.

Posttraumatic chondromalacia patellae is one of the late effects of trauma. It can develop if there is a blow to the kneecap that tears off a piece of cartilage or bone.

The normal patella should track in the groove of the femur in a relatively straight manner. However, the patella can sometimes track more to one side or the other and has even been known to partially come out of the groove. When this occurs, the condition is known as subluxation. Maltracking of the patella can be precipitated by a blow to the knee or impact of the knees with a vehicle dashboard during an auto accident. This condition can also be caused by a genetic, developmental, or familiar abnormality or overuse from repetitive knee flexion, uphill running, hiking, kneeling, squatting, or prolonged sitting with knees flexed.