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Aggravated a knee injury... apply hot or cold to it?

Jeff7181

Jeff7181

Lifer
Hopefully I get some decent answers here...

Around 5 years ago I injured my knee... just soft tissue damage, only had x-rays taken, no MRI's so I never really found out the extent of the injury. Anyway... a couple weeks ago I tweaked it while shoveling snow, it swelled up a little bit, but after an hour or so of icing it, the swelling seemed to go away. Since then, mainly in the mornings, it's been sore... hasn't swelled up noticeably, but it has that kinda stiff feeling like there might be a little swelling in the joint. Putting ice on it for a half hour or so makes it feel better for pretty much the rest of the day... but I'm wondering if I should be putting a heating pad or something on it now since I've heard that ice only helps keep swelling down soon after the injury and after that it can even prolong healing. I'm trying not to go back to the doctor yet because I don't have insurance.
 
It really depends on what is damaged. Is it the front or back of the knee? Any ligaments damaged? Ice will keep the swelling down, RICE probably applies here (Rest Ice Compression Elevation), but a little more info if you have it.

EDIT: How did you "tweak" it? Hyperextension?
 
Originally posted by: HermDogg
It really depends on what is damaged. Is it the front or back of the knee? Any ligaments damaged? Ice will keep the swelling down, RICE probably applies here (Rest Ice Compression Elevation), but a littel more info if you have it.
Click to expand...

I never really found out what exactly was damaged. What happened was I bent my knee sideways screwing around on a dirt bike. Taking a left turn, the rear tire lost traction and slid out, I had my left foot down but it dug into the dirt and the bike fell on the inside of my knee. It happened so fast before I knew it I was still pretty much upright, but could feel the whole side of my leg from my knee down touching the ground. They took x-ray's, couldn't see anything, drained 150 CC's of fluid from it, took more x-rays, and could see that no bones were broken. I assume some ligaments were damaged because after I was out of the immobilizer, while the doctor was examining it, pulling on the bottom half of my leg, he said it felt a little lose, but should heal up in time. After 4 visits to the physical therapist every other week (2 months), I went from 60% range of motion to 90% and she said with time I should get back to 100%.

*EDIT* The "tweak" was more of a twist, followed by a slight warm feeling in the back and left side of my knee.
 
Ice is probably the way to go, but for your own sake I'd invest in a decent knee brace for when you do any kind of physical activity. You may want to go back into the doctor sometime in the near future if the "slightly warm" feeling doesn't go away (though I assume it already has). Also, stretching and lightly exercising it may loosen it up so its not so stiff.
 
Originally posted by: HermDogg
Ice is probably the way to go, but for your own sake I'd invest in a decent knee brace for when you do any kind of physical activity. You may want to go back into the doctor sometime in the near future if the "slightly warm" feeling doesn't go away (though I assume it already has). Also, stretching and lightly exercising it may loosen it up so its not so stiff.
Click to expand...

What qualifies as a decent knee brace? I have one that's sorta like a foamy elasticy type material... kinda like this one.

*EDIT* Or would a hinged one like this be considered decent?
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Originally posted by: HermDogg
Ice is probably the way to go, but for your own sake I'd invest in a decent knee brace for when you do any kind of physical activity. You may want to go back into the doctor sometime in the near future if the "slightly warm" feeling doesn't go away (though I assume it already has). Also, stretching and lightly exercising it may loosen it up so its not so stiff.
Click to expand...

What qualifies as a decent knee brace? I have one that's sorta like a foamy elasticy type material... kinda like this one.

*EDIT* Or would a hinged one like this be considered decent?
Click to expand...

Hinged is definitely the way to go. Especially since you seem to have a problem with lateral movement.

I had strained my PCL one week during football and was wearing a hinged brace during the game that week. Wound up having some linebacker's back go through my knee, and that brace pretty much saved me from completely shredding my entire knee. It also was sturdy enough that it allowed me to go back and play in that game, even with badly torn MCL, partially torn ACL, and strained PCL all in the same knee.
 
get yourself some insurance and go see a doctor. or go sign up for a couple of units at your local college and see the doc for free. hope you get well soon, and please, if you think you need to see a doctor, do it. don't take a chance.
 
Thanks for the advice and concern. It's not REAL serious... I'm able to walk just fine 95% of the time. Just gets in the way of some things... like what kinda jobs I'm capable of doing.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Thanks for the advice and concern. It's not REAL serious... I'm able to walk just fine 95% of the time. Just gets in the way of some things... like what kinda jobs I'm capable of doing.
Click to expand...

I would still get it checked out. On the knee mentioned above, I'm probably going to be getting surgery on it for the following reasons:

1) I'm young and in good shape, so my recovery and recovery time should go well and fast.
2) I'm not comfortable doing the things I used to do before the injury.
3) I can't lift weights as heavily as I used to. When I do certain exercises, I can feel the weakness in my knee.
4) It still acts up on me sometimes.

Sure I don't need surgery on it, but I'd rather get it down, suffer for several months now, and be done with it instead of it greatly affecting me later on in life.
 
Yeah... well a couple hundred dollars for a doctor visit would be hard to swing right now... 10 grand for surgery is out of the question. 😉
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Yeah... well a couple hundred dollars for a doctor visit would be hard to swing right now... 10 grand for surgery is out of the question. 😉
Click to expand...

Ahh yea. My father's job still covers me while I'm in college, and I'd be paying basically nothing, so I didn't think that was a factor. Shucks.
 
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