PSA: A dislocated kneecap is not the same as a dislocated knee

With the news that Tank's injury is most likely a dislocated kneecap, I figure we should all get an understanding of the difference between a dislocated kneecap and a dislocated knee.

Taking a quote from the Cleveland Clinic website since I am in no way a medical professional: "A patella dislocation is a dislocation of the knee cap. A “dislocated knee” involves the other two bones that make up the knee joint: the thighbone (femur) and the shinbone (tibia). When your knee is dislocated, the femur and tibia no longer connect at the knee joint."

And from what I've read, a knee dislocation can come with tearing of multiple ligaments, such as the ACL and MCL, as well as damage to major blood vessels, whereas a dislocated kneecap doesn't generally do that.

According to the NHS, a dislocated kneecap can heal in 6-8 weeks, and there are even examples of players dislocating kneecaps and coming back sooner than that, such as Mahomes in 2019 being able to come back after missing just two games with a dislocated kneecap.

Of course, we don't know yet whether there was any additional damage to Tank's leg, but so far, this is good news. This shouldn't be the career-ending injury we were fearing earlier today. Hopefully we continue to get good news.