Patients Playbook | When ‘Bad Knees’ Run in the Family

What is Patellofemoral Dysplasia? What does it mean for you and your family?

“My dad said everyone was born with shit bits — in our family, our shit bits are your knees.” - One of my favourite patients who always ahs all the good quotes (youknowwhoyouare)

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Welcome to the wonky knee club. You’re not alone.

Brian: “Hi my name is Brian”, Group: “Hi Brian”, Brian: “It’s been 3 months since my last instability episode”:

If you’ve had knee pain since your teens...
If you’ve always hated stairs, squats, or hills...
If you’ve heard every version of “bad knees must run in your family”...
Then buckle up — this one’s for you.

There’s a whole group of patients I see who’ve had kneecap-related pain since adolescence. Some of them dislocated their kneecap doing something as violent as turning around in a shopping centre. They often shook it off at the time — but over the years, that same knee becomes unstable, sore, or just... feels off.

“My Knee Clicks like it’s an open-mic Jazz night!”

Eventually, it clicks (and sometimes literally):

• You’ve got a differently shaped kneecap — patella dysplasia

• Or a shallow or weird groove where the kneecap’s meant to sit — trochlear dysplasia

• Or both — the full deluxe edition

This is patellofemoral dysplasia (PFD) — and if you’ve been told you’ve “just got bad knees,” there’s a good chance this is what’s really going on.

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So What’s Dysplasia?

“Dysplasia” just means things developed a bit differently. It’s not a disease. It’s not wear and tear. It’s your blueprint.

What’s YOUR knee blueprint?

Instead of a nice, smooth kneecap rolling through a lovely bony groove — you’ve got:

• A kneecap that might be flat, tilted, or oddly shaped

• A groove that’s shallow, tilted, or misshaped

• A bit of both

  

  Dejour's classification of trochlear dysplasia. (Source)

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Common Signs You’re in the Club:

• Front of knee pain that’s been there since school

• Pain with stairs, squats, hills, or sitting too long

• “My kneecap feels floaty or unstable”

• Dislocations from seemingly nothing

• A parent or sibling with the same saga

• You naturally avoided leg-dominant sports

  

  Wonky Knee Club Members often hang out in the Green Square

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