Patellar subluxation. A recent history.

For 15 years (1955 to 1970), I was plowing "new ground" pretty much by myself. When you plow behind an old mule and hit a stump hole full of cottonmouth moccasins, you have to get on the move in a hurry and figure out some solution to the predicament or you won't get your corn planted. So, I was not treating the overweight, knock-kneed, loose-jointed, teenaged girl, but the young boy or girl who thought that he or she was an athlete and had dreams of being a star. If rehabilitation did not work, then I thought a lateral release, an Elmslie, and nothing short of a full reconstruction would solve the problem. One had to develop as much vastus medialis obliquus power as this dysplastic muscle could generate, had to transfer the strong vastus lateralis to a more central pull, and, with the distal reconstruction, correct any patella alta and Q-angle abnormality. One had to give the knee every possible advantage in order to serve an athlete. As Hippocrates so wisely noted, one needed to study the athlete to know, with appropriate modifications, what is best for every patient, young or old. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many fine young orthopedists were stimulated by the information of the AAOS postgraduate courses in sports medicine. They, after having gained further through their own experiences, have become the major contributors to our increasing knowledge of the patellofemoral joint, especially in athletes, and many of these fine "young" (now a little older) orthopedists are now the contributors to this issue. They are giving you their experiences, knowledge, and lessons. A close and repeated study of their information must be combined with compassion for your patient. Then, only experience will develop the desired fine tuning.