Broken Patella

As I moved to work between 4 beds in the medical room, I glanced up and saw this x-ray. With a curious look, I then looked at the patient being examined on the bed. Now it makes sense. This patient had a traumatic accident a few years ago, which left him with a broken patella. This isn’t even the chief complaint that the patient presented with. He has no access to care, continues to work hard at supporting his family, and has tolerated the pain since the accident. The way he walks changed his gait and he developed severe sciatica pain, thus coming to the clinic for treatment. After treating his sciatica pain, he even joked with the student by moving the pieces of his patella around and laughing sinisterly. The shame is that without surgically repairing the issue, his sciatica will return.