Think I tore MCL/Meniscus

[Magusigne]

Update 9/1/10-

So it's been awhile. Overall it feels fine, occasionally I'll feel a weird sensation in my knee if I torque it the wrong way. My hypothesis was is that it was a terribad strain. Like Terribad. With a small amount of tearing of the meniscus.


Playing Soccer, planted my foot, someone fell right into the side of my knee...it twisted..and I felt intense pain..however I did not hear a pop until I went down and brought my knee up and then I heard a small pop and the pain went away.

I cannot hit a soccer ball with the inside of my foot without INTENSE pain. I can walk..straighten my leg etc almost normally but I cannot rotate my leg and put pressure on that inside without a sharp pain making me draw my breath.

This happened on 4-18-10, pain is still the same when I put pressure on inside knee (almost like it opens up). Went to the Doc yesterday, she tried a few tests and really torque on the knee (Although I locked it and she really didn't torque it right to cause the pain). Said it was either a sprain or a meniscus tear but no Ligment injury.

Note: Sore at joint point inside knee. No swelling or redness. I can lock my leg straight with minimal discomfort.

Thoughts?

Can't run, getting into bed or in the car is kinda painful unless I lock my leg straight.

MRI=350 bucks. Or I can just get a good hinged knee brace and suck it up for a few weeks to see if there is any improvement.

Updates:
5/4/10- PT Appointment-
Apparently I'm a pussy. It's a torn Sartorius muscle. No presence of any meniscus or MCL damage. Primary care physician mis diagnosed the joint line pain
5/12/10 - Still sore as hell if I try to sit on knee's but otherwise its ok. Normal movement getting into bed and car is now fine, slightly sore. Riding a bike is a little sore at first but fine.
9-1-10 - Forgot to update and I hate when people never update these type of threads with a final conclusion on their condition.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

You got hit from the outside of your leg, right? Yeah, that's a likely place to get hit for MCL/medial meniscus damage. I would call the doctor's office back and get a prescription to get checked out by a physical therapist. They can pretty much tell you if it's torn or not and they can treat you for it. Getting a brace will just immobilize it and make you weaker/more prone to injury. Go see the PT. They'll give you exercises to take take some stress off of the meniscus and that will promote good function in the future.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Unhappy triad? Though if your ligaments haven't been damaged...

If it is a tear of the meniscus you'll want to start strengthening the muscles of the thigh (especially anterior thigh...I think...) to help stabilize the knee while the meniscus heals.

 

[Magusigne]

You got hit from the outside of your leg, right? Yeah, that's a likely place to get hit for MCL/medial meniscus damage. I would call the doctor's office back and get a prescription to get checked out by a physical therapist. They can pretty much tell you if it's torn or not and they can treat you for it. Getting a brace will just immobilize it and make you weaker/more prone to injury. Go see the PT. They'll give you exercises to take take some stress off of the meniscus and that will promote good function in the future.

So-

Ideally, suck it up for a week or two with maybe a knee sleeve (something not so intense as a hinged brace). If it doesn't improve call for a PT appointment...then go with their opinion?

or should I just go straight to the PT in your opinion?

 

[highland145]

Sorry to hear. I remember the pain of all 3 of my knee malfunctions like they were yesterday. It was 30 years ago for the 1st.

 

[bommy261]

take some ibuprofen and ice that business ASAP.. then get an mri

 

[SociallyChallenged]

So-

Ideally, suck it up for a week or two with maybe a knee sleeve (something not so intense as a hinged brace). If it doesn't improve call for a PT appointment...then go with their opinion?

or should I just go straight to the PT in your opinion?

Go straight to the PT. Immobilization aggravates injury and reduces recovery time in most cases. A PT should be able to give you exercises that reduce swelling, improve blood flow, and begin strengthening the muscles around the knee (allowing for the muscles to bear more load and the meniscus to bear less). If you had broken something, immobilization would have been necessary. I've seen people who had an ACL tear in PT the next day. I also watched their swelling decrease from the time they came in to the end of their session. It can really help a lot.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

If you didn't get any swelling you may be in luck; you may have just tweaked it and not actually torn it. When I tore my ACL, my knee was absolutely massive because of all the swelling.

+1 to the PT. When it comes to knees, sucking is up is just setting yourself up for an epic fail later in life. Get it checked.

 

[alkemyst]

take some ibuprofen and ice that business ASAP.. then get an mri

QFT...that would have been my first trip...The OP probably cost himself some recovery time waiting if he didn't.

OP book an appt with your doctor (hopefully you are seeing a sports one, get a referral if you need too to get to one).

He should give you an MRI so you know exactly the injury you are dealing with.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

QFT...that would have been my first trip...The OP probably cost himself some recovery time waiting if he didn't.

OP book an appt with your doctor (hopefully you are seeing a sports one, get a referral if you need too to get to one).

He should give you an MRI so you know exactly the injury you are dealing with.

Seeing an orthopedist/orthopedic surgeon would work well too.

 

[Jeff7181]

I agree with the MRI. Not having one caused me to have two knee surgeries last January. I had an x-ray at the ER and the surgeon was confident enough after viewing the x-ray and examining me that it was just a torn meniscus and he wanted to schedule surgery to clean out the knee. He then learned that I had several bone chips floating around in the knee, pieces of torn cartilage from the torn medial meniscus and a ruptured ACL. So he scheduled a second surgery to repair the ACL with donor tissue since there was no donor tissue ready for the first surgery.

Granted my injury was severe enough that I could not walk, so this is a little different for you. Still... get an MRI... $350 is nothing to ensure proper diagnosis and thus, proper rehabilitation/healing.

 

[Magusigne]

Update:

Still hurts 2 weeks later. Not nearly as sharp pain but definately not running anytime soon. Still no swelling. Primary Physician torqued on it pretty good but I was pretty tense as I didn't want to get that stabbing pain again. She said MRI or PT, she recommended a PT first to diagnose the injury better (This physician had a little book on how to check for knee injuries in her hand practically).

PT is set for tomorrow. I've been very very easy on this knee too so I doubt I've really injured it worse unless it needed total immobilization.

 

[slsmnaz]

PT to diagnose it better? Get a referral to see an orthopedist, get an mri and you'll know exactly what's wrong.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

PT to diagnose it better? Get a referral to see an orthopedist, get an mri and you'll know exactly what's wrong.

Yep, PTs specialize in non-invasive injury tests, like the anterior and posterior drawer test, McMurray's Test, and the Lachman test (for the knee). From that, the injury type (whether ACL, PCL, MCL, LDL, and or/meniscus) can be determined and treatment can immediately be implemented. Spending money on an MRI is unnecessary when the problem can be treated without it. Most knee injuries are treated very similarly since the overall goal is to strengthen the muscles around the joint to bear more of the tension and reduce pain.

 

[slsmnaz]

IMO it still won't give you a definitive answer like an ortho or mri. You can do all the quad sets and stim you want but I would still rather have a complete view of the injury (especially if it has been hurting for that long). And I'm not sure the extent of meniscus damage can be fully seen without it. An mri (esp with insurance) is not expensive at all, takes about an hour and well worth the time.

Maybe I'm not as well versed as SChallenged but I've had both acl's done and am about to have my knee scoped next month.

with my insurance the specialist co-pay is only $10 more than the PT co-pay. It was well worth it to me

 

[Koing]

REST it dude...

I had a grade 2 tear on my MCL in 2008. I couldn't rotate my left knee and it HURT LIKE A MOFO when I tried to move my knee from left to right. It was just a no go.

Your options are this:
It heels up a lot better by 2 weeks
If it doesn't recovery by 2 weeks it'll be a 10-12 week job mate

You just have to rest it. I just rested it, walked with a limp for about 2months and by 12th week it was better. A right pain in the ass but theres not much you can do. Mine wasn't a full rip, just a small tear apprently, according to the Dr that saw the knee.

 

[Magusigne]

Thats what I've been doing man. Just taking it easy. No sports.

Not really a huge recovery at week 2. Small and slight i'd say. The pain use to be so bad it would make me gasp. Maybe a 9/10 on my pain scale (The only thing I can compare it to is Pleurisy). Now its like a 6.5 or a 7.

 

[Magusigne]

Update. I'm a pussy. Its a torn sartoirus

 

[aom-sg]

my sister experienced same knee problem. but she is afraid to take the operation. The doctor said it can be treated by taking therapy. do any one here successful in treating the pain by just a therapy?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Update. I'm a pussy. Its a torn sartoirus

A torn sartorius actually sounds MORE painful to me. What kind of treatment options are there? Is it actually torn or just strained? If it's torn, I imagine they'd actually have to reattach it surgically.

 

[Magusigne]

A torn sartorius actually sounds MORE painful to me. What kind of treatment options are there? Is it actually torn or just strained? If it's torn, I imagine they'd actually have to reattach it surgically.

Nah just a bad strain apparently. Maybe a partial tear.

 

[eits]

lol @ primary care doc

"it might be a sprain, but no ligament injury" lol

and i'm not surprised she didn't do orthopedic tests properly. it's not something they deal with on a daily basis. they spend most of their work day prescribing meds for sniffles or infections. every so often, they find something that saves someone's life.

based on what you described in the op, it sounded like an mcl sprain or a sartorius strain. i wouldn't have guessed a tear... what grade tear was it?

you should see a pt for it.

 

[Magusigne]

Not that anyone care's but I updated thread

 

[Koing]

Just be patient with it. It took me 6-8 weeks with a limp and by the 12th week I was better. It's a complete PITA and afterwards I was still VERY weary of turning on the knee...

Koing

 

[Magusigne]

Updated and /closed