How I Manage Knee Dislocations

Knee dislocations are rare injuries once thought to be seen only once in an orthopedic surgeon's career. With increasing incidence, because of better recognition and survival of high-energy trauma, an orthopedic surgeon is more likely to see and should be wary of a knee dislocation. Our experience is unique in that the authors (RCS, DCW, and GT) maintain an academic sports medicine practice but also deal with complex trauma at a level I trauma center. We believe this provides us experience with both low-energy (sports related) and high-energy mechanisms, which has influenced our publications. Each knee dislocation takes on a different character, and the approach can be very different depending on each patient and mechanism of injury. We share with the reader our approach to both low-energy and high-energy knee dislocations.