I messed up my knee. Any ideas what's wrong?

[Entity]

Title edit.

A week ago playing Ultimate, I injured my knee. It didn't really feel like much at the time, but now, a week later, it still hurts. It really doesn't effect me much at all, except when I crouch/bend my knee, but it does prevent me from being able to run. I'll probably head into the doc if it sticks around much longer, but I've been trying to keep from having to do that -- MRI's are expensive.

So anyway, I'm wondering if what I describe sounds like what anyone here has been through.

Pic of exactly where it hurts when I crouch.

Like I said, it's getting better every day (compression, rest, ice and elevation), but I'm trying to make sure it's not something really serious that I should be getting professionally checked out right away.

Pic 2 of where it hurts.

I'm on a student's budget, so MRI's are more of something that I'd want to do if I was pretty sure it was something serious.

Any advice is appreciated.

Edit: I should add that there is no swelling, which also makes me hope it's less serious.

thanks,
Rob

 

[Entity]

Bump because I'm still not sure what it is, and now it only hurts when it's fully extended, or when I'm crouched as low as I can go. The pain (dull now, definitely bearable) feels like it's coming from the muscle behind the bone -- on the back-left side of the leg (hope the pics give you an idea of what I mean).

Any ideas? I really don't feel like shelling out $200 for a doc to tell me to stay off my leg for two weeks and take some ibuprofin. That's what they did last time, with my pinky -- three separate times. :|

Rob

 

[Jeff7181]

You shouldn't need an MRI... I really screwed up my knee, and the doctor was hesitant to do one, but over the whole ordeal I ended up having 7. Anyway... just go to a doctor... he'll poke your knee all around asking if it hurts... he'll have you bend your knee while he pokes... he'll probably make you lay down, then try to pull your knee apart to see if any ligaments are damaged. Most likely he'll find a muscle or tendon or something that's been damaged... he'll probably tell you to put heat on it, and to wear a knee brace, and avoid strenuous activity, and come back in 2-4 weeks for a follow up.

My advice... take some alieve if it hurts, wear a knee brace when you're out and about... (just one of those elasticy stretchy ones)... and when you're at home, excercise it... lay on your back with your leg extended and move your leg through the whole range of movement 15-20 times... stand up... stick your right leg out just in front of your left, and move it to the left so it just crosses your left foot... do that 15-20 times too. If it swells up after doing that, or after walking or standing or whatever for any length of time, ice it until swelling goes down, then make sure you tell the doctor about that, how often it happened, what you were doing when it happened, etc.

*EDIT* The reason I had so many MRI's is because one doctor told me I'd need an artificial knee in order to lead a normal life... another doctor, who was supposedly a specialist told me the same thing, but artificial knee's only last 15-20 years at the most, so I'd need about 3 replacements throughout my life... then another specialist told me there's no sense in doing surgery now... waiting 3 or 4 or 5 years to see if it heals enough to function normally is worth it rather than jumping into such a drastic (and expensive) surgery right away. Well... I haven't had any surgery yet... I can function almost completely normal. I've been back to the first doctor since then for checkups, pain med prescriptions, etc. He didn't believe I was doing as well as I was... so he took more MRI's (at the hospital's expense because it was for his interest only, not for my benefit)... couldn't believe it had healed so well... asked what type of treatment I was recieving... I told him I was just doing my physical therapy excercises that the hot physical therapist lady told me to do =) By the way... she was awesome! Lol... very nice looking, and she'd massage my knee while she was taking measurements to see if things were moving back into the correct place. Anyway... to make a short story long... my doctor still can't believe the progress I've made... I'm pretty much back to normal... can't really play sports for any length of time without it swelling up and hurting, but I can walk fine, run, rollerblade... one thing I can't, and probably never will be able to do again is do any fun moto-x type riding. I can just cruise around, but it's not much fun if ya can't play around.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Could be an anterior cruciate ligament. I suggest rest, ice, compression and elevation if it is still swollen. You have to give it a chance to heal though. A complete tear would require surgery, so dont try to tough it out. Never had it, but my doggie did. Wasnt fun for him.

 

[N8Magic]

Ouch, it sounds like you may have some ligament damage.

The above advice is good advice, and you should definitely take Jeff7181's recommendations into consideration. One other thing you can try to see if the ligament is torn or not is to sit with your leg bent at a 90 degree angle. With your foot flat on the floor grab your calf from behind and try to move it (the bottom half of your leg) directly forward. This may hurt if you have severe ligament damage, so be warned.

There should be no forward movement in the joint, and if there is and/or you have serious pain when doing this, go a see a doctor as it may be more serious than you think. You do NOT want it to heal improperly.

Best of luck.

 

[Jeff7181]

If it was ligament damage, he'd be in more pain most likely, and he probably would have fallen by now, a week after the injury =) Knee's tend to give out extremely easy when a ligament is damaged... or at least produce a shooting pain that will make you sit down =)

 

[N8Magic]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
If it was ligament damage, he'd be in more pain most likely, and he probably would have fallen by now, a week after the injury =) Knee's tend to give out extremely easy when a ligament is damaged... or at least produce a shooting pain that will make you sit down =)

Agreed.

I know about ligament damage all too well. A torn ACL ended my ski racing career.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
Could be an anterior cruciate ligament. I suggest rest, ice, compression and elevation if it is still swollen. You have to give it a chance to heal though. A complete tear would require surgery, so dont try to tough it out. Never had it, but my doggie did. Wasnt fun for him.

It's not swollen whatsoever.

Rob

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: N8Magic
Ouch, it sounds like you may have some ligament damage.

The above advice is good advice, and you should definitely take Jeff7181's recommendations into consideration. One other thing you can try to see if the ligament is torn or not is to sit with your leg bent at a 90 degree angle. With your foot flat on the floor grab your calf from behind and try to move it (the bottom half of your leg) directly forward. This may hurt if you have severe ligament damage, so be warned.

There should be no forward movement in the joint, and if there is and/or you have serious pain when doing this, go a see a doctor as it may be more serious than you think. You do NOT want it to heal improperly.

Best of luck.

Well, I guess I'll go see a doc anyway, but I did what you said, and didn't have any pain at all.

Like I said, the only time I can feel pain is with the leg fully extended (i.e. locked), or when I'm completely crouched. Regardless, I guess it's best to swallow the cash and go see the doc.

When the injury occured, there was no popping, etc. -- it just hurt a little bit (bad enough to come out, but I could still run just fine).

Rob

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Entity

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
Could be an anterior cruciate ligament. I suggest rest, ice, compression and elevation if it is still swollen. You have to give it a chance to heal though. A complete tear would require surgery, so dont try to tough it out. Never had it, but my doggie did. Wasnt fun for him.

It's not swollen whatsoever.

Rob

That's good, but you still need to be careful. IF you have a partial tear, the last thing you want is a complete rip. I think it's time to see the doc. If you cannot afford an MRI, tell the doc.

 

[erikiksaz]

Get it looked at! I had a bad accident and was unable to walk for a couple weeks. Luckily, since you're able to walk around and run, i'm sure you'll be fine. I know i am

 

[Entity]

Talked to a friend who had a very similar injury; his turned out to be a cartilage tear, which was apparently "slipping out." I dunno -- made an appointment with the doc, I guess I'll find out Monday.

Rob

 

[AvesPKS]

week ago playing Ultimate

There's your problem right there...

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: AvesPKS

week ago playing Ultimate

There's your problem right there...

Yeah, it's basically like soccer in terms of toughness on joints/knees, etc., but I'm only 23, damnit!!!

Rob

 

[guapo337]

Originally posted by: AvesPKS

week ago playing Ultimate

There's your problem right there...

what's wrong with ultimate?

hopefully it's not a ligament. i slightly tore my MCL last summer. sucked.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: Entity
Talked to a friend who had a very similar injury; his turned out to be a cartilage tear, which was apparently "slipping out." I dunno -- made an appointment with the doc, I guess I'll find out Monday.

Mom went through the same thing when I was a kid. Dad convinced her she could do an intermediate ski slope and she wound up hitting a tree. She was having similar symptoms for a while, then a lump appeared on her knee after about a year. The doctor said he couldn't figure it out, though Mom kept insisting it was cartilage. Finally one day I was traveling with Mom and we were making a connection at the airport we usually flew out from. I was 5 and I had been told we were going to see Dad, so when Mom started going towards another terminal I tackled her knee. There was a pop and the lump came free. Turns out it was cartilage. The doctor felt pretty stupid.

Anyway, the point of that story is go get it looked at before the damage is permanent. My mom has no cartilage in that knee anymore and it's messed up her entire ability to walk, both from the lack of cartilage and foot problems that came about because of it.

 

[kaizersose]

Sorry to say it but i bet you blew an ACL (maybe MCL, depends). You can pop one and it is exactly like you decribed: it feels wierd, its unstable and you can put lots of pressure on it. I know a guy that did that playing in an NCAA soccer game at UCLA. He had no idea what happened and just finished playing th game. Then he sat out for 9 months because of the surgery. You should have it scoped and repaired or you could dislocate your knee soon! That really sucks.

 

[Entity]

Just in case I didn't make it clear, I'm going in at 9am on Monday. That was the soonest I could get an appointment.

Rob

 

[Graphicd00d]

<Arnold>It's a toomer!</Arnold>

 

[glugglug]

Welcome to the club. Mine's been bugging me on and off for 6 months, been getting therapy for it the past 5 weeks. Believed to be illotibial band friction syndrome (google it), symptoms occur when crouching/bending as you describe, and much more so on stairs, especially when going down the stairs (up isn't so bad). Don't know if you would have come across that yet, but if you try some stairs while its acting up lets just say it will be immediately obvious.

Edit: I see in your later posts you say the pain is coming from the back side? That's not it then.

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: glugglug
Welcome to the club. Mine's been bugging me on and off for 6 months, been getting therapy for it the past 5 weeks. Believed to be illotibial band friction syndrome (google it), symptoms occur when crouching/bending as you describe, and much more so on stairs, especially when going down the stairs (up isn't so bad). Don't know if you would have come across that yet, but if you try some stairs while its acting up lets just say it will be immediately obvious.

That sounds very similar, except my pain is on the inside of the knee.

Rob

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: guapo337

Originally posted by: AvesPKS

week ago playing Ultimate

There's your problem right there...

what's wrong with ultimate?

hopefully it's not a ligament. i slightly tore my MCL last summer. sucked.

I'm in the same boat as you. Doc described it as a minor tear, said since I've been off it for two weeks, I should have another 2-4 to go, likely ~6 until I'm fully healthy again.

Rob