Has anyone been diagnosed with Patellar Clunk syndrome? If so did you

I developed patellar clunk syndrome after my knee replacement. I had difficulty extending my knee after it was flexed and it made a clunking sound that could be heard across the room. I had arthroscopic surgery at Mayo to remove the tissue. All fine since!

Hi Brenda. How long after surgery did you start having the problem and then how long thereafter did they make you wait for the surgery. Was it confirmed with MRI before surgery? And did you have the same surgeon who did your TKR do the clunk surgery? Did you get immediate results? Gowi g was the recovery and did you have to start over with weeks of PT?

Hi Irene,
I am sorry that you are having this problem! My initial TKR was in 2008 with a revision Mar 29, 2011 at Mayo. The patellar clunk was diagnosed by the surgeon who did my revision the end of June, 2012 So, it occurred more than a year after my revision. Arthroscopic surgery was delayed until July 13, 2012 because the sports medicine doctor (Dr Dahm) was traveling with one of Minnesota's professional sports teams. As soon as she got back into town, the arthroscopic surgery was done. I had very little pain before the procedure and not a lot after. I did not have testing of any kind. I just had difficulty extending my knee and it made an awful noise when I did (a loud slurping sound). The surgeon who did my revision TKR was sure that it was patellar clunk. The arthroscopic surgery Dr Dahm (sports medicine) did confirmed the diagnosis. The pictures Dr Dahm took were amazing. I did get immediate results (other than some pain and stiffness) and did not have to have PT. I was told that there was a good chance that the tissue would grow back but it never did. I have since had a TKR on my other knee (and later a revision) but have not developed patellar clunk in that knee. Hope this helps!

Hi Brenda. Wow. Revisions on both TKRs. How come? The 1st one needing a revision just 3 years after TKR. Did they just have to replace the spacers, or a complete overhaul? Are you all good now these years later?

Yes, my left knee done in 2018, revision in 2020, same problem, instability with pain. Yes, larger spacers needed in both knees. Interestingly enough, my right TKR done at the University of Iowa, the revision done at Mayo. My left TKR done here at Duke by one surgeon and the revision done by a different surgeon here at Duke. But both knees ok now. I just gave up pickleball (at age 80) and exercise daily at the gym-treadmill, bike, elliptical, machines. I also do a lot of hiking so I am rough on my knees! They seem to be holding up well. I hope that you get the help you need with your knee. Let me know!

Bummer to hear you gave up pickleball. It was my love of the game that drive me to finally get my TKR. Even though it was pickleball that tore it up to begin with 7 years ago. Even with this awful clunking, pickleball is the one activity I can do where it doesn't bother me as much. I think because of that split step and knee bent position I am in most of the time. And just too busy going after the ball to notice it as much. Haha Thanks again for taking the time to chat with me. I'll be sure to keep you posted as to my decision about corrective surgery. I am 67, btw., so looking forward to a few more years of pball.

Play as long as you can. You are young! I stopped because of severe osteoporosis in my wrists. Too risky... Good luck!

Hi Dearborn. Me again. Just checking back to see if your surgery to resolve your knee clunking worked. I had arthroscopy 2 weeks ago (14 months after TKR) due to persistent clunking. And although I had to s of scar tissue removed. It did not help the bothersome hard clunking so I'm very disappointed. Now my doc is saying it may be due to maltracking of the patellar button moving thru the groove of the femur.

@irenesara I realize your post is in 2024 and here we are in 2026 and I have exactly the same symptoms as you do. How are you doing? I hope you will see this and if not, maybe someone else can help me. I was diagnosed at 5 1/2 months PO and am at 8 months PO. My doctor wants to wait until a year is up but I am having worse symptoms. It hit me last night that I did not take the Ibuprofen he prescribed after surgery due to kidney issues and now they want me to take a steroid. He has only offered open surgery but I went to an out of state doctor and he will do an arthroscope but with no guarantees on success (same with open surgery) Are you better now? Would you do it again? I am at a loss because this is not a common problem anymore, or so they tell me.

P.S. I was too quick to ask you all of this, I see where you answered and now are dealing with possible patellar tracking. I still wonder how you are doing and hope you are better. I could not tell whether you had scar tissue removed or not, either I didn't understand the abbreviation or it was a typo. Did they remove the impinged scar tissue?