Posterolateral instability of the knee is difficult to diagnose and tr
eat. It has been attributed to failure of ligament reconstruction and
has been the cause of numerous knee operations. We present a small gro
up of patients who complained of giving way of the knee and who had an
increased range of external rotation of the tibia at 90 degrees knee
flexion. The patients all had similar symptoms. We describe the standi
ng apprehension test, which was positive in every case. Anterior sublu
xation of the lateral femoral condyle was detected manually in four pa
tients and confirmed by radiography and MRI in one. The medial knee pa
in which is often associated with episodes of instability is probably
due to stretching of the posteromedial soft tissues and perhaps the sa
phenous nerve.