I had a visit the other day with a young lady who has a very difficult knee
problem. She presents with an unstable knee following an MVA. Her ACL is
ruptured and unrepaired, I suspect several other structures are also damaged
or destroyed as she frequently dislocates the femur anteriorly on the tibia.
When this happens she falls, often upon the knee itself. The instability is
complicated by an anterior inclination of the tibial plateau secondary to
severe lower extremity trauma with multiple fractures bilaterally. She has
had well over a dozen surgeries and is not willing to under go any more so
please don’t tell me that surgery is what she really needs. I already know
it and so does she.
What I’m looking for is a knee orthosis which might help stabilize her knee
and prevent dislocations. She currently is wearing a Townsend with fair
results. She has rejected a Donjoy Defiance ACL as inadequate. My best
idea so far has been the Donjoy Defiance combined instability model with the
motocross kneecap. She is overweight and her tissue is very soft. The
minimal surface area coverage of the Donjoy design appears to be one of the
reasons for her rejecting it previously as it dug into her thigh. Any other
thoughts or suggestions?
Ted A. Trower C.P.O.
ted@amputee.com
