Hurt Knee..need opinions/advice

[Bunniculette]

about 2 months ago, I slipped on my wet bathroom floor and somehow hurt my left knee. My knee didn't hit the floor or anything else but popped very loudly and began to hurt on the inside and progressively got worse as the night went on. I woke up the next morning not able to bear weight on it and it was very swollen and black/blue and extremely painful and felt unstable. Went to the ER..they moved it around and it was very painful..mostly painful to straighten it and stand or walk..but bearable to bend it. Did no x-rays or MRI.said I "sprained" it and sent me on my way.

Now 8 weeks later it's better but still very painful and still swollen and feels unstable at times. The inside area still hurts and still tender to the touch, still hurts to bear weight and straighten..hurts mostly after doing activity. I think I did more damage than a sprain..thinking I tore something..I am debating on going to a new Dr and requesting an MRI..but I am not athletic and the pain isn't "unbearable" most of the time..but I would like to know if it's a tear or not. Would a "sprain" still be painful and swollen after 2 months?

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[chima_mass5]

unfortunely this really sounds like a possible ligament tear or some level of inner structure issue(we just natually have alot of ligaments and tendon within ANY actual joint). an actual strain or sprain would not be really showing the types of syptoms you are displaying this far out, espescially the constant swelling? that just shows a more constant source of something injured that simply is very inflammed and causing the swelling and other symptoms too.

at the very least at this point, just obtaining that very badly needed MRI would at least reveal what is actually going on in there right now. and just so you know, more people will actually have some level of real knee injury by movements or sudden stops than with a very direct 'hit' to their knees. its just the way joint structures are. you could have also had the beginnings of some level of wear and tear injury going on too that just really went over the top when you fell. stranger things have happened. i blew out the meniscus in my knee which already needed surgery for other crappy things, simply by missing a step one day and landing full force upon mostly the heel of my right foot. it blew out the ends of it but left the middle in tact. weird. just see your primary for a full eval and ask about a referral for an MRI. this has just gone one for way too long already with no real scans even done at the ER either? they owed you more than just a simple glance when dealing with ANY actual joint. joint injuries can just occur very easily. whatever does or does not actually show up on that MRI will kind of dictate for you what your next steps should be. knee surgeies today are no where near what they used to be. most of them are simply done arthroscopically using 'just' that scope and very tiny tools in a very small incision or multiple tiny incisions. just get that MRI done as soon as possible. this one test is going to simply tell you much much more than any possible type of test for what your location of injury actually is.

good luck with this and please do let me know what you find out. i personally, among other surgeries, have had to have two seperate knee surgeries done both in 05. FB

 

[14T]

I may have the answer as to why you didn't get a scan on the day of your injury. Knees fill up with fluid very quickly and it can distort the findings of an MRI especially if there is blood in the fluid as well. You wouldn't think it does but I've seen them...it can. So most docs tend to wait until the swelling is down to then re-examine a knee and then order the appropriate tests. Having been through 14 knee surgeries, I've kinda been through this before.

So now you are way past your injury and still have pain and problems with movement so it's time to find out what. Why if you don't have pain that is that bad???? Because leaving a knee with an internal injury of any kind can make arthritis start early and get bad fast. The end result is you lose a knee at 50 instead of 80(or never). So please get to a doc and get an MRI done now. If you decide to see an orthopedist, I'd strongly recommend you see an ortho who only does knees or knees and hips. Most orthos now specialize into certain joints and you get a far better result if you can find one that specializes in your injury than a general ortho.

Good luck and as FeelBad said, let us know how you are.

Jenny