A very common injury in women and girls is called "Patellofemoral Syndrome". This pain and discomfort is located in the front of the knee, and it is caused by inflammation of the extensor mechanism. The extensor mechanism is made up of the quadricep and the quadricep tendon. The mechanism becomes inflamed because of overuse: too much, too soon, as orthopedics describe it. Not only does this syndrome cause pain, it causes stiffness in the joint. The pain and stiffness gets better with rest, and is intensified with activity.

To treat Patellofemoral Syndrome, it is best to stay out of activity for 6 weeks or more. Icing the joint and taking Advil or Aleve will help the pain and the swelling. Stretching the muscle groups as m

Another extremely painful injury to the knee is "patellar instability". This includes dislocations and subluxations of the patella (kneecap). A subluxation is a partial dislocation. The knee slides out and in very quickly. This causes a lot of pain, and depending on how far the kneecap slid, the more serious the injury. A dislocation is when the patella slides out of the joint and stays there. Dislocating the patella is about 70% more common in women and girls than in men and boys. The reason for this is that women's legs tilt in slightly, causing extra stress on the joint, while men's legs are straight. For a man to dislocate his patella, a violent blow to the knee in the right position must occur.

When the kneecap dislocates, the person falls down, and is usually screaming and swearing. The pain is unbearable. If it is the first time this has happened to a person, they usually go to the hospital to have their leg reset. Orthopedics advise their patients that if this ever happens again, to put the kneecap back in place yourself, the less time it is out of the joint, the less damage it will do. When the patella dislocated, it usually tears the soft tissue around the joint, and stretches the ligaments, however, it can tear ligaments if it is out too long because the ligaments can no longer tolerate the stress. Usually when the kneecap dislocates, surgery is not needed, but sometimes draining of the joint is. If surgery is not necessary, physical therapy is. The best thing to do for a dislocated patella is the R.I.C.E. method, and an immobilization brace. Crutches are essential for moving around at all. It is important to get proper treatment when a dislocation occurs because ever time the patella pops out it scrapes a little bit of cartilage off.

All of the above injuries have happened to me. The physical trainer at Minnechaug (Jay Patterson) told me that I had Patellofemoral syndrome about 2 years ago. Earlier this year, I fell while I was doing a back flip onto my knee and it subluxed. As it subluxed, it strained my MCL and probably tore some of the medial meniscus, but that could have happened at another time. I was on crutches for the better part of a month, I had an MRI, and I'm still wearing a hinged brace. I was attending physical therapy, and was finally strong enough to return to regular activity as long as I wore my brace. My first day back to practicing my sport (cheerleading) I rolled my ankle on my good leg, and my knee roll

Some common words found in the essay are:
Elevate Crutches, Patellofemoral Syndrome, MCL ACL, MRI MRI, , ACL LCL, MRI I'm, February Dislocating, Jay Patterson, Advil Aleve, knee joint, patellofemoral syndrome, women girls, blow knee, rice method, tear meniscus, immobilization brace, physical therapy, vastus medialis, quadricep quadricep tendon, quadricep quadricep, attending physical therapy, people tear meniscus, violent blow knee, vastus medialis muscle,
Approximate Word count = 1656
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)