knee pain and calf numbness

[Dan1244]

Hello all. I was playing football Sunday and although I didn't experience any injury while playing, I felt tightness later that night. I always stretch before and after. The next morning when I woke up I noticed some clicking behind my knee right above my calf. It's right in the center. Now a few days later, I'm feeling a lot of calf numbness and tingling. It's been tough falling asleep because of this. I've had previous problems with this leg before...groin strain and also a bad hamstring strain with bruising that was right below the bend of my knee. The hamstring injury also tingled after a couple days but not as bad. I went to the doctor for that and he attributed it to a partial tear and said the numbness could have been from some bleeding.

I've never felt this pain I'm having now though. It's really not even that painful, just very uncomfortable. It mainly clicks when I straighten my leg and feels like a tendon, not the bone. Any suggestions on what this could be? Will stretching and icing be enough?

[Michael L Gross, MD]

It could be a muscle injury to the gastrocnemius (calf) muscles, the hamstrings, or the capsule in the back of the knee.  The numbness bothers me, there could be an injury to you peroneal nerve, or worse a blood clot. If it persists, I would have it checked and have a Doppler study dne just to be safe

[Dan1244]

Thank you very much for your response. I suspected that it may be an injury to my hamstrings again since that caused the numbness last time. They were extremely tight after playing football. Fortunately, there is no noticeable swelling. Also, the pain is gone and the clicking has stopped entirely. If the tingling and numbness persists, I will ask my doctor about the test you suggested.