Knee Injury - Recovering?

[rabbit135]

So, a little over a month ago I slipped and fell on the ice. I landed pretty much on my knee cap. At first it was bruised and hurt pretty bad and I didn't think too much about it. I put ice on it the first couple of days and it seemed to be getting better into the first week. As soon as I thought it was almost healed about a week later it started getting worse every day and I was now limping on it. The beginning of the day would start out fine, but once I walked around on it for a while it would start to hurt. I felt unstable on it and it constantly felt like there was bubbles in it moving around when I walked. I went on like this for another week and a half before going to a doctor. I don't have any insurance, but I went to a doctor anyway. He pulled on my leg a little and moved the kneecap around a bit and took an xray. He said there was nothing broken and that I probably bruised the tendon and gave me anti inflammatory meds. I wasn't given really any advice on what to do with it after the appointment for recovery and it just seemed like maybe they wanted me out of there. upon leaving they gave me a foam knee brace and sent me on my way. When I got home and tried on the knee brace I found out it was way to large (XXL) to the point of it being almost comical (I'm 130 lbs., maybe if I was a NFL running back it would fit.) Anyway, it's been a couple of more weeks and it has slowly gotten better, so I'm no longer limping on it, although when I'm on it for a while the skin over the kneecap starts to feel tight and it also clicks sometimes and sometimes feels like the kneecap pops out or the bones are rubbing on the backside of it. It's hard to tell, but it still doesn't feel back to normal. There isn't really much pain anymore except for a slight burning feeling directly south of the kneecap and sometimes on the inner side. Also, on that spot directly south of the kneecap is what feels like a rubbery lump (swollen?) beneath the skin that has a slight bit of a bruise type sensation. - I have still been trying to get some kind of insurance going on and I'm not sure I can afford to just go back again without it. It has been feeling a little better each day, but I'm a little worried about it and wonder if the symptoms I still have are normal for this kind of injury and if it should be taking this long to heal? I am a 34 year old male that was very active previous to this and walking or biking many miles was nothing to me. I would very much like to get back to being as active and not have this come back to me later. Sorry for the long story... any advice would help...

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

There are 3 pairs of ligaments in your knee joint and you might have injured your menisci or cruciate ligaments.

Grade I ligament tears take time to heal and you have to wear a brace for 4-6 weeks and follow up with physiotherapy.

For a proper diagnosis you have to consider MRI and also a proper clinical examination near an orthopedician for diagnosis and for a proper recovery.

Take care!

[sara_eagle]

It could be that you damaged the cartilage on the back of the kneecap and that is what you feel grinding/clicking.