MY KNEE!

h3ndu

Ok,

So my knee has been giving me some trouble for almost a month now - I am a pretty active person, I run about 3 to 4 miles a day (or at least, did before this started), I do Judo, I hike and bike and rock climb; I walk up and down four flights of stairs five or six times a day - and this is where I really feel it - a sharp pain stated developing on the inside of my knee - and it is rather inflamed. I thought I might have just twisted it, but hot damn, it has persisted. It got to the point that I had to take a break on the third flight of stairs one day. It really, really hurt. I am hesitant to go to a doctor, I'm not sure how I would pay for it.

I've taken a break from using my knee too much for a while, I ride the elevator instead of using the stairs, and I've stopped running, but it still hurts - when I walk my knee pops, when I wake up it feels like it's a solid block - almost like it's been frozen in place.

This is really cramping me - I like to be active, I like to work - I rather dislike hurting.

Any advice? Like I said, I'm hesitant to go see a doctor, but I'm feeling like it might be really worth it.

EDIT - And to be specific this is only one knee - my left one.

Reznik

Try RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and aspirin and if that doesn't help after a week or two you should see a doctor.

I had knee pain in my right knee for a couple months and I ended up going to the doctor and he prescribed me naproxen, but if that doesn't solve things I may have to go for physio so... it really never hurts to see the doc.

Robos A Go Go

How long has the period of rest been?

And how many days of the week were you active before the pain started? Did you do something strenuous every day?

matt has a problem

This sounds like a torn ACL unfortunately, especially the stiffness and popping.

Symptoms of Torn ACL:
The knee may give out suddenly when the ACL is torn and there may be a popping sound upon injury. Symptoms of a torn ACL include knee pain, swelling, stiffness, and bruising. Walking is painful and the knee feels instable. The feeling of instability is caused by the bones in knee joint sliding too far (this can result in damaged cartilage).

Or a torn Meniscus

Symptoms of Meniscus Tear
There may be a popping sound upon injury. Most people are able to walk immediately after a meniscus tear but begin limping as swelling sets in. Symptoms include pain along the inner or outer side of the knee, stiffness, swelling, and sometimes “locking” of the knee. A piece of torn cartilage may get caught between moving parts of the knee joint and limit motion or lock the joint. A clicking sound may be heard when moving the knee. The pain may be worse when squatting.

Both of these really only get worse the longer you don't go to the doctor.

Slider

What can a doctor do? Besides surgery or other medical procedure, a doctor isn't going to do anything other than tell you to R.I.C.E it.

Basketballs

Does it swell up noticeably after walking up the stairs? Or is it always swollen? If it only swells after some activity it is more likely that it is meniscus damage.

It could be ACL, which is much more serious. Something that you could try is if you feel ok, try and jump using only one leg. It is almost impossible to jump with a fully torn ACL.

Either way they both get worse if you wait and don't see a doctor. It is honestly not possible to internet diagnose someone with knee damage. Cause it sounds like meniscus or ACL, but it could be a bunch of other things also. RICE should help with some a lot of the pain and swelling.

Both of these injuries require surgery now. Or in 10-20 years you can get a full knee replacement which is way worse.

Docken

Based on his symptoms, its highly unlikely that its an ACL tear.

Meniscal tear is possible, though its usually traceable to a specific event. He has not given us an event to work with.

Those symptoms could be a number of things, but since you haven't said "one day I was doing x and then it hurt afterwards", it could actually be a more gradual type of injury - cartilage injuries tend to develop over time and inflame the joint in the way in which you have described - "popping" sounds are uniformly a bad sign and need an ultrasound asap to work out what the affected area is.

I strongly recommend you get a referral for an ultrasound on the knee.

wogi

h3ndu wrote: »

Ok,

So my knee has been giving me some trouble for almost a month now - I am a pretty active person, I run about 3 to 4 miles a day (or at least, did before this started), I do Judo, I hike and bike and rock climb; I walk up and down four flights of stairs five or six times a day - and this is where I really feel it - a sharp pain stated developing on the inside of my knee - and it is rather inflamed. I thought I might have just twisted it, but hot damn, it has persisted. It got to the point that I had to take a break on the third flight of stairs one day. It really, really hurt. I am hesitant to go to a doctor, I'm not sure how I would pay for it.

I've taken a break from using my knee too much for a while, I ride the elevator instead of using the stairs, and I've stopped running, but it still hurts - when I walk my knee pops, when I wake up it feels like it's a solid block - almost like it's been frozen in place.

This is really cramping me - I like to be active, I like to work - I rather dislike hurting.

Any advice? Like I said, I'm hesitant to go see a doctor, but I'm feeling like it might be really worth it.

EDIT - And to be specific this is only one knee - my left one.

Unfortunately, you want to see a doctor. I've had quite a few knee injuries, and its not something that ever heals entirely. Brace it, rest it, ice it, heat it. take asprin.

Zeon

Slider wrote: »

What can a doctor do? Besides surgery or other medical procedure, a doctor isn't going to do anything other than tell you to R.I.C.E it.

Uhh, no, thats bad advice. If its a minor sprain, then yes, youre right. If its something more seriously wrong with the joint, surgery may be required, unless you dont enjoy having a full range of motion in your leg.

Your knees arent something to fuck around with. Theres so many things that can go wrong with them, and a lot of the things that can go wrong are serious. If not taken care of, you could end up crippled in that leg for the rest of your life. Thatd be shitty, especially if you enjoy being active.

h3ndu

Ok - a little more information then - I was active every day before the event, Rock climbing mon, wed, fri, 30 minute run at 6:00 am mon, wed, fri - Judo for two hours tues, thurs, Backpacking on the weekends - usually 15 to 20 miles. My only real off day is/was sunday. There was no event, through any of this, where I twisted my knee or pulled anything, or some such thing - one day it just started, it began as a gradual pain that developed into some serious hurt. And it is not always swollen, it swells as the day goes on.

The only real change in my activity was the addition of going up and down four flights of stairs every day multiple times when I moved into a new place.

I tried the one leg jump idea - on my hurt leg it was rather painful going down, but I could do it, and I could jump back up.

Thanks for the advice - I'm probably going to go see a doctor this monday. Should I just walk into a hospital or should I go to a specialized clinic?

matt has a problem

h3ndu wrote: »

Ok - a little more information then - I was active every day before the event, Rock climbing mon, wed, fri, 30 minute run at 6:00 am mon, wed, fri - Judo for two hours tues, thurs, Backpacking on the weekends - usually 15 to 20 miles. My only real off day is/was sunday. There was no event, through any of this, where I twisted my knee or pulled anything, or some such thing - one day it just started, it began as a gradual pain that developed into some serious hurt. And it is not always swollen, it swells as the day goes on.

The only real change in my activity was the addition of going up and down four flights of stairs every day multiple times when I moved into a new place.

I tried the one leg jump idea - on my hurt leg it was rather painful going down, but I could do it, and I could jump back up.

Thanks for the advice - I'm probably going to go see a doctor this monday. Should I just walk into a hospital or should I go to a specialized clinic?

It sounds like it was a small injury that's simply been aggravated by your lifestyle, a small tear in something possibly that's simply gotten worse. If you already have a family doctor or GP, go to him/her first, they'll recommend a specialist if necessary. Otherwise you're going to be stuck going to an urgent care or ER type thing. Please tell me you have insurance, because just getting in and getting an x-ray will be in the multiple thousands otherwise.

reddeath

Definitely see your GP as soon as you can for a referral, I walk with a permanent limp because I let a knee injury I thought was minor at first go on for a few weeks.

It started as an incredibly minor fracture, then fractured much worse because I was young and wanted to try and 'walk it off' eventually swole to about twice it's size then it was ER ER ER.

Granted, I now have a cool looking, deliberate stride, but it will hurt me now every winter or cold morning until the day I die. Not a good tradeoff I'd say.

Reverend_Chaos

I just twisted my knee in a Judo class a few weeks ago. I have a complete tear of the ACL and a partial LCL tear. I could barely walk for about a week. Yours doesn't sound as bad, but you may have hyper-extended something, or even partially tore something, which means that you might completely tear it if you push it hard.

Definitely try the R.I.C.E. even if you are going to go see the Doc, it might make it feel better. I would suggest finding an Immediate Care Center if you have them in your area, they are like a Hospital, but they charge a lot less. You could also try to find a general practitioner Doctor, maybe one specialized in Sports Medicine, and find out if you can get billed (some docs offices want cash up front if you don't have insurance, so find out before you go in)

Also, you might want to either get an ace bandage and wrap the knee, or buy a Knee brace at your local pharmacy. I have a brace, and it really helps me walk.

Don't mess around with your knees.

Best of luck.

defreak

I'm assuming you're not an adolescent because of the activities you do, but if it's possible in adults, it could be Osgood Schlatter disease.

Altalicious

If this has been a problem for weeks, then RICE isn't going to do anthing except rest it - that process is designed to reduce inflammation & swelling in the 24hrs immediately post injury. It sounds like you have a problem that a doctor needs to see.

cooljammer00

I also have a knee thing, and my doctor said it was something called "chondromalacia"? Research on the net seems to say that it's an outdated term for generic knee pain. I guess all I can do is exercise and physical therapy that doesn't involve using my knee too much? Doctor recommended leg lift thingies to strengthen the area around my knee.

Dr. Frenchenstein

matthasaproblem wrote: »

This sounds like a torn ACL unfortunately, especially the stiffness and popping.

Symptoms of Torn ACL:
The knee may give out suddenly when the ACL is torn and there may be a popping sound upon injury. Symptoms of a torn ACL include knee pain, swelling, stiffness, and bruising. Walking is painful and the knee feels instable. The feeling of instability is caused by the bones in knee joint sliding too far (this can result in damaged cartilage).

Or a torn Meniscus

Symptoms of Meniscus Tear
There may be a popping sound upon injury. Most people are able to walk immediately after a meniscus tear but begin limping as swelling sets in. Symptoms include pain along the inner or outer side of the knee, stiffness, swelling, and sometimes “locking” of the knee. A piece of torn cartilage may get caught between moving parts of the knee joint and limit motion or lock the joint. A clicking sound may be heard when moving the knee. The pain may be worse when squatting.

Both of these really only get worse the longer you don't go to the doctor.

if it's a full ACL tear, it wont get worse. But if you play sports (lateral movement, etc) you could tear something else more easily with a torn ACL. I tore my ACL and exploded my meniscus, it was BLINDINGLY painful when it happened, and i was pretty much bedridden for a couple days.

I'd go to an orthopedist if i were you, unless it's an acute injury a normal doc will probably refer you to one anyways, and you'll have to pay for 2 visits. You'll probably get XRays and perhaps an MRI. hope you have insurance man, Knee problems SUUUUUCK

Unearthly Stew

IANAD, but it might also be a good idea to know your running habits. That's a decent chunk of running per day which is all high impact cardio. If your form is off or if you're just running one way around a track then you may be slowly damaging your knees without even realizing it.

PotatoNinja

I've been recovering from something similar, I had alignment issues that caused a knee problem to slowly aggravate over time, resulting in knee pain, bruising, and stiffness.

Physical therapy has been helping quite a bit, I'm able to run and walk without any significant pain (some minor pain on occasion, never anything that actually slows me down) and I'm hoping to recover to the point of doing full squats / lifting again within a month or two.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you don't have much insurance, which leaves you in a "damned if you don't, damned if you do" scenario.

As (economically) painful as it may be, I recommend you see a specialist for your knee problems. Be forthcoming about cost concerns, good doctors and therapists will be able to work with you to establish a cost-effective treatment plan (bad doctors and therapists will randomly throw solutions at you and expect that to work).

As others have said, RICE is almost always a good solution, and you may want to invest in a foam roller for some D.I.Y. therapy.

Really though, knees are complicated and as shitty as a $1-3,000+ bill might seem, dealing with a knee injury for decades is worse. Bite the bullet and find someone to see, don't be afraid to shop around if any one doctor or therapist is giving you a bad vibe.

h3ndu

Ok -

So I went into my local student health center today and got felt up by a P.A.-C. He moved my leg around quite a bit and twisted and turned it. Some things hurt, most didn't. Afterward he took X-Rays, and while I seem to have developed spurs on the inside of my knee, they aren't the problem, and there isn't anything that he can point to as the cause for the problem. He recomended I take 800mg of Ibuprofen three times a day, and to rice it. He said to avoid all lower body work outs - aside from low impact bicycle and swimming - but that I could do anything involving my upper body.

In regards to my running habits, I don't typically hit the track - I use the local gym's treadmills and just run for runnings sake - I don't really try and press time, I just like to get a good cardovascular work out. I run in Aasic gel pulse 2's - I don't know if they might be causing the problem or not - I don't know if I'm flat footed or over arched or just normal. When I joined the army at 18 they looked at my feet and recomened I buy Aasics - so I always have. As far as I know my form isn't bad - hand movement from hip to mouth, I guess I strike with the balls of my feet, but I've never really stopped and thought about it, I just run.

He said to come back in a week and they might do a MRI to see if there are microtears on my miniscus.

: P

I think my new schedule is going to be mon we fri - bike for 30 mins, tue thur sat - swim for 30 mins, push up and sit up burn out on all days. Any recomendations in the mean time?

Shazkar Shadowstorm

if you bike do it at low resistance

Falx

If you havent already. Buy yourself one of those knee support things. They're like $4 or so I think. It'll keep your knee from moving around while asleep and inadvertently while going about your day.

Docken

Odd he would x-ray you as opposed to an ultrasound, as your symptoms strongly suggest soft tissue damage or cartilage problems.

MRI is overkill, but hey it works. You'll know for sure next week what type of problem you have (ie surgery or rehab), so just stay off it for now.

maximumzero

This is all I could think of upon reading the thread title:

Edit: Stupid Tripod.

PeterGriffinHoldingKnee.gif