I vote sports med if you have a good one in town. They can diagnose it and usually know the best PTs for each set of problem/type of athlete.
Jodi
I will start out by saying that I am biased because I am a PT but I would suggest going to a good PT with a sporting background. You can go to an ortho or sports med but most likely they will just send you to PT anyway. Generally speaking knee cap tracking issues are most comely related to muscle imbalances which is what the PT will be specialized in addressing. Usually a combo of tight and weak muscles. That is all very vague but whoever you do decide to go to do a little homework and see what they specialize in.
dm-instabilty of the patella is pretty common. One that’s simply “a little loose” or slides around is said to sublux. If it completely goes out of joint-and the owner of the knee has no doubt that something significant has happened to his/her knee-is dislocated. In fact, when most people say that they “dislocated my knee” actually are referring to the patella.
For an initial eval I don’t think you can go wrong be it an Ortho doc like myself, a Physiatrist, etc. as most likely after examination and possibly x-rays if indicated, your course will be initially conservative. Go for it.
I live in the San Antonio area, so, depending on where you live, I could make a recommendation. I was fortunate enough to find a good orthopedic doctor who is also good with sports medicine; he had me recovered from both my injuries in record time.
I will start out by saying that I am biased because I am a PT but I would suggest going to a good PT with a sporting background. You can go to an ortho or sports med but most likely they will just send you to PT anyway.
Um, who is going to write the orders? No Doc, no PT - no orders, no PT. Call me crazy…
Some states do have direct access to PT. The states that don’t usually have it up for vote every year. We also need a referral/Rs in OH (as does IL).
Heh…didnt know that. I sure would not want to go to some freaking quack who has access to MRI’s and all that fun stuff. I mean, who needs all that and maybe an EMG when you can go right to a PT?
(and as you know, I live with a PT).