If you suffer a dislocated knee, such as at your place of employment, you need to receive immediate medical attention. You can’t afford to let this injury linger, as it won’t take long for the problem to worsen.
While there’s never a good time to suffer from a dislocated knee, it’s good to know that there is more than one type of treatment strategy. This goes a long way in ensuring that you’re able to make a full recovery, even if it takes some time to do so.
The treatment you receive depends on many factors, including the extent of your injury.
For example, if the damage to your knee is minimal, you won’t require surgery. Instead, your doctor can pop the bone into place and provide you with a splint to accelerate the healing process.
Conversely, if there is damage to your knee and/or the surrounding area, you may require surgery. This is necessary if you are dealing with: damaged nerves, broken bones, torn ligaments or damaged blood vessels.
While not always the case, you may need to wait anywhere from one to three weeks before you can have surgery. This affords enough time for the swelling to go down, which makes it possible to move forward with surgery to repair the injured area.
What about recovery?
After surgery, you may be required to wear a knee brace for an extended period of time. Along with this, physical therapy is typically required if you want to make a full recovery.
It’s not out of the question that you will require physical therapy for up to 12 months.
If you suffer a dislocated knee on the job, you’ll want to provide your employer with information on what happened. This is something you should attempt to do immediately following your injury.
By taking the right steps up front, which includes reporting the accident and receiving medical treatment, you’ll find it much easier to receive workers’ compensation benefits should the time come to apply.
