Fractures of the patella constitute approximately 1% of adult fractures seen acutely and are relatively rarer in children.1 Although the role of the patella in augmenting extensor force is now well understood, it was not always so. A little over 50 years ago, the patella was felt to be largely vestigial, and efforts to repair it futile. As an example of a poorly designed but widely influential study, Brooke’s 1937 report (with a supporting review by Hey-Groves) is worth reading.2