MJA
MJA

Air guitarist’s knee — a new musical injury

Robert J Douglas and Jason Ward
Med J Aust 2010; 193 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb04124.x
Published online: 6 December 2010

Rock music may be bad for your knees as well as your ears

In May 2009, a 17-year-old woman in the dance floor audience at a rock concert was performing “air guitar” — a form of dance and movement in which a performer mimes to rock or heavy metal guitar music, commonly requiring enthusiastic jumping and leaping about a “stage”. While performing a manoeuvre involving a jump into the air, she landed awkwardly on her right leg. She noted immediate intense right knee pain with obvious patellar deformity. An ambulance was called, and a dislocation of the right patella was diagnosed. Under methoxyflurane inhalation, ambulance officers reduced the dislocation by manoeuvring the knee into full extension.

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.