Background: While much evidence exists on the epidemiology of and prevention strategies for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, there is less information on patellar dislocations. Purpose: We sought to compare the activities of adolescents who underwent a medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction (MPFLR) to those who underwent an ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of routinely collected preoperative data of adolescent patients who underwent either an MPFLR or ACLR by 1 of 2 fellowship-trained pediatric sports medicine orthopedic surgeons at a single institution between February 1, 2016, and April 15, 2023. A total of 912 patients were identified, and 540 of these met the final inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 228 MPFLR participants were successfully matched to 228 ACLR participants based on sex and age within 1 year at the time of surgery. The mean age was 14.8 ± 2.1 years and 53% were female. The Hospital for Special Surgery Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale (HSS Pedi-FABS), Pediatric International Knee Documentation Committee, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pain Interference, and PROMIS Mobility were collected. Results: We found that 61% of the MPFLR cohort and 94% of the ACLR cohort sustained their injuries while playing an organized sport. The MPFLR group had significantly lower HSS Pedi-FABS scores than the ACLR group, suggesting that the MPFLR group had lower preoperative athletic activity levels compared to the ACLR group. Conclusions: In this retrospective study, participation in organized sports was associated with 61% of patellar dislocations. Among girls, dance was the second most common sport participated in at the time of patellar dislocation. This suggests that further investigation into injury prevention strategies for adolescent female dancers is warranted. Level of Evidence: Level III: Retrospective therapeutic study.
Chipman et al. (Sat,) studied this question.