Patella extremely intense pain and swelling. The patella can be tracked back into the groove with an extension of the knee, and therefore sometimes returns into the proper position on its own. A "patella alta" is a high-riding (superiorly aligned) patella. An attenuated patella alta is an unusually small patella that develops out of and above the joint. A "patella baja" is a low-riding patella. A long-standing patella baja may result in extensor dysfunction. The kneecap is prone to injury because of its particularly exposed location, and fractures of the patella commonly occur as a consequence of direct trauma onto the
Traditional Chinese medicines derived from the human body "Three Corpses; demonic spirits believed to live in the human body and hasten death" and "gǔdú" 蠱毒 "gu poisoning"; a poison produced by venomous insects; cast a black magic spirit possession over someone". The first "Bencao gangmu" prescription for human nails is not from Chinese medical texts but from Daoist rituals for expelling what (Cooper & Sivin (1973: 220) describe as the "Three Corpse-Worms 三尸, the chief of the "inner gods" who are to the individual microcosm what the celestial bureaucracy is to the cosmos." Prescription 52.6.1, the 斬三尸法 "Method of Beheading the Three Corpses", involves supernaturally cutting the nails