Air guitarist’s knee — a new musical injury

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.