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Knee pain: when should I call my doctor?
DisruptedCapitalist
I swear!Registered User regular
I swear!Registered User regular
So I think I blew some ligament out in my knee this morning because it hurts like a motherfucker and I can't really handle stairs or running anymore.
Is this something I can treat with an ice pack and a knee brace or should I call my doctor? (Especially since it's almost the weekend and I may not be able to call him until Monday.)
Is this something I can treat with an ice pack and a knee brace or should I call my doctor? (Especially since it's almost the weekend and I may not be able to call him until Monday.)
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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With a torn muscle it would be quite swollen, I partially tore a quad and my knee was 1.5x the size of the other. All they told me was to take some Advil\Aleve and ice it, after 5 days or so I was able to start walking better on it but it stayed swollen for at least a month.
If it was ACL\MCL then your knee would not have support on the inside or outside. You could get a knee brace to help with in in the meantime, there is usually just 2 options in the long run for that and it is surgery or wear a brace.
Day 1: Ice for 20 minutes at a time, NSAIDs at recommended doses, rest, and generally speaking, don't move it a lot.
Day 2: If you're not a decent amount better, go to a good sports therapy type doctor.
Day 3: Do whatever that doctor says.
FYI, I had one of the weirdest injuries the doctor had ever seen. Because there was no injury.
Woke up one day and my knee hurt. Next day it hurt BAD. Next day, WORSE.
Then the swelling started. Doc asked what I did to it, and I replied 'nothing' (because that was the truth).
In the end, I ended up in a knee brace for a couple weeks after they drained a cup of fluid out of my left knee WHICH FUCKING HURT.
Nurse asked me if I was going to pass out cause I was shaking so bad. I told her I had no idea.
(I was manly and didn't pass out) (but I did accept their juice box and cookies)
However, I myself just got over hurting my knees (both of them) running, Was barely able to hobble for 2-3 weeks, with serious constant pain. Felt like I was being stabbed and jackhammered in the knees with every step I took. But after the 2-3 weeks of rest, ice, elevation, the pain began to subside very quickly in a few days until I was back to walking jsut fine. I never went to visit the doctor because I am stubborn as a sentient brick, but there is a very good chance that even though it cleared up on its own, a doctors advice, prescriptions, or injections could have cut that recovery time but a considerable margin.
Anyway, I put some ice on it and took some ibuprofen, I figure I can last until Monday cuz it doesn't seem so bad now.
Edit: welllll, I'll call the nurse hotline at my doctor's office and see what they think.
Day 2 i am by the pool, taking it easy cause i did not want to go to a hospital in Mexico. BOOM weakened knee went out on me again and more damage ensued!
you need your knee most of the time, so don't fool around. a little inconvenient now will save you tons of potential problems later.
Where does it hurt exactly? What makes it worse?
When you say you can't handle stairs or running, is it because of pain or instability?
If you can give me a solid history, I can narrow the differential quite a bit for you (basically from "give it a few days rest" to "go to the ER, tonight").
This, 100%. Knee injuries are not trivial things. Get to a doctor/rapid care facility/ER and have them look at it.
Here is my experience with a knee injury:
I hyper-extended my right knee about 7 years ago and that leg hasn't been right since. For example, in the proceeding 7 years, I've hyper-extended the same knee about 4 other times - one incident as recently as three weeks ago, just walking down some steps. I couldn't walk for a hour, lost full range of motion for a week, and it hurt for about 2 weeks after. Occasionally I'll get painful muscle spasms when I stretch that leg as well (and only that leg). And the really fun part? It pops loudly when I walk now!
my spine
my knees
my wrists
my shoulders
That's just me, but I think those are some of the things I'd miss most if they were gone. If you can't go in over the weekend I'd stay off it till it's all better or you can get in to see someone about it.
This is a good example of something that should be evaluated. Instability points to a ligamentous injury and mechanical symptoms (loud popping) reinforces the potential for internal derangement. Does your knee ever lock on you? When it pops, does it hurt?
FYI, this sounds like a PCL tear/insufficiency. These aren't always treated surgically, but if it's impacting you significantly, reconstruction is an option.
I went, the doctor poked around, said nothing major was busted so he wrapped me up in an ace bandage (which really helped, actually) and told me to take 600mg of ibuprofen for the pain/swelling.
So today I'm feeling a little better, but I think I'll wrap up my knee again just to make sure it doesn't get stressed while on the mend.
Lesson learned: better safe than sorry. Thanks all!