There is no consensus about management of acute traumatic primary patellar dislocations in young physically active adults. Acute lateral patellar dislocation is a relatively common injury among young adults. Proper treatment for this condition has been researched for decades. However, there is a lack of prospective randomized studies to evaluate the different treatment options for traumatic primary patellar dislocations. Therefore a prospective, randomized study was designed with the aim to compare the outcome of operative versus nonoperative treatment of primary traumatic patellar dislocations in young adults.