UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Apprehension test for patellar dislocation

Keywords: Apprehension test, patellar dislocation, (PubMed Search)

Posted: 9/8/2012 by Brian Corwell, MD
Click here to contact Brian Corwell, MD

Apprehension test for patellar dislocation

Test is used to access for the possibility of a patellar dislocation, prior to evaluation, now spontaneously reduced.

Similar to the shoulder apprehension test

Designed to place the patella in a position of imminent subluxation or dislocation

http://mulla.pri.ee/Kelley%27s%20Textbook%20of%20Rheumatology,%208th%20ed./HTML/f4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3285-4..10042-7..gr16.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AJxcbd9g8A

Place the knee in 20 - 30 degrees of flexion with the quadripces relaxed. Grasp the patella and attempt to place lateral directed stress.

If the patella is about to dislocate, the patient will experience apprehension due to the familiar pattern of dislocation, report the laxity and resist further motion by contracting the quadriceps