RT Journal
A1 Hamblin, Tracy
A1 Curtis, Stuart H.
A1 D'Astous, Jacques
A1 Aoki, Stephen K.
T1 Childhood Obesity and Low-Velocity Knee Dislocation in a Fifteen-Year-Old GirlA Case Report
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2010
FD September 15
VO 92
IS 12
SP 2216
OP 2219
DO 10.2106/JBJS.J.00115
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.J.00115
AB 
According to the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), an estimated 17% of children and adolescents between the ages of two and nineteen years are overweight1. The survey data indicated that there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents in the United States during the years 1976 through 1980 and the years 1999 through 2000. Among two-year-olds to five-year-olds, the percentage has increased from 5% to 10.4%, and among six-year-olds to eleven-year-olds, from 6.5% to 19.6%1. The comorbidities often associated with obesity include diabetes, atherosclerosis, sleep apnea, and coronary artery disease. Musculoskeletal injuries are less often associated with obesity. Minor trauma in overweight individuals can cause serious injuries similar to those caused by high-velocity accidents, with the most notable injury being knee dislocation2. These injuries have been documented mostly in obese adults; however, to our knowledge, the youngest person to have sustained a low-velocity knee dislocation was a nineteen-year-old3. In this report, we document a fifteen-year-old obese girl who sustained a knee dislocation with serious complications due to a ground-level fall. To our knowledge, this is the youngest patient with this injury to be reported in the literature. The patient and her parents were informed that data concerning the case would be submitted for publication, and they consented.