Thread: Dislocated Patella, but Interested in starting MMA. is it a no go?

Hey Guys, I do boxing and as quite a strong person when it comes to wrestling too i'd be really interested in trying MMA. However last year I dislocated my patella(kneecap) very aggressively in a game of football when I had all my weight on one leg and somebody kicked the inside of my knee. My kneecap went about 90 degrees round the side of my leg and very badly damaged ligaments. Since then the physios instruct me away from physical contact sport e.g. Rugby and say it's now weaker and more likely to happen again. is this a big risk injury for mma? and is there any advice on what I should do, or just keep to boxing. Bare in mind I never want to feel that pain again.

-Guy

Hi,

Did you actually rupture any ligaments such as the lateral or medial collateral ligaments? You will have most probably have torn the connective tissue on the sides of the patella that connects it to the surrounding tissue. You will have also traumatised the cartilage that is on the under surface of the patellar. The connective tissue does heal up with fibrous tissue but often provides less support or heals up with restrictions. You will have to strengthen your quadriceps and hamstrings as much as possible to give you good support. It is also essential to insure that the ITB is not too tight so the patellar is not preferentially pulled to the side it dislocated too. Also important will be insuring your hip muscles are also in good strength which helps stabilise the knee.

You are at more risk of re-dislocating if you are put in a leg lock or kicked hard enough on the knee in the right direction. I guess this is a risk you would have to except. There is no reason why you can’t strengthen up enough to reduce the risk of this happening and enjoy the training of MMA but it maybe a vulnerability you may have to watch out for in competition. When joints dislocate there is always increased chance of re-dislocation due to the overstretching of the connective tissue that originally held the joint together. People with hypermobile body types are at more risk of dislocations and re-dilocations because there connective tissue is already very stretchy and lax. Sometimes they dislocate without a trauma to the region. If you do not fall into this body type your chances are reduced and rehabilitation more promising. Hope this helps.

I have a lax patella, also due to a football challenge or two and to some extent its hereditory, though not as severe as my case.
I had short quad and some band around my hip was too short too, so I'm at the physios for them fairly often. If I dont pay a load of attention to them they pull the patellas high and wide, making the dislocation more likely.
I can't play a right sided rubber guard and I cant fake a left switch kick and drop for the near left leg for a single... the right knee is too stubborn and the left knee pops out if pushed in that direction and angle, aggressively.
Normal physio advice would be to stay away, but if you know your limitations and accept that you will have to spend time stengthening and loosening other parts of your body to help keep stress from your knee's, you can at least have a go and see how your body takes it.

I train in some MMA capacity normally 5/6 days out of 7 and do conditioning on top of that, but I take time to look after the knees as best I can (normally I stretch 15-20 mins a day, every day I train, just on the hips and legs) and accept there are some things that I won't be able to have in my game.

Good luck to you bro, I think the biggest thing is fear factor. Then first time someone shoots in for a single and goes to run the pipe on your weak knee, you litterally shit your pants.