unexplained knee swelling

[desi1313]

I'm a professional basketball player so my knees are very important to me. Six months ago I had surgery to repair a small meniscul tear in my right knee. I rehabbed aggressively and proceeded to play approximately 6 weeks later.  Things went well for the next two weeks and then I started to experience swelling around my knee.  No pain, only swelling.  After the season I took 5 weeks off like my doctor said, no activity whatsoever, only walking.  I slowly started to ease my way back into playing, weight lifting to strengthen the muscles and running.  The first two weeks were fantastic, no swelling.  I took a day off and woke up the next day with swelling, for no reason. I also experience a popping, cracking sensation occasionally that is a little bit painful.  The doctors can't tell me what is wrong.  I'm 26 and extremely frustrated. Can someone please help me? I will do anything to have a healthy knee... Thanks so much!

[desi1313]

Thanks so much for your advice.  I had a sports medicine who specializes in knees do the surgery and I've had 2 MRI's since then.  No clue what's wrong though, just a lot of unexplained swelling. I appreciate your help though. Thank!!

[Cindee56]

Hi,I'm so sorry.   I have a lot of pain in my knees, but I am an old lady and have arthritis.  I do have a lot of friends at the gym I go to who are athletes and have had that meniscus surgery, and it took them a very long time to recover.  Is it possible you are doing too much?  Did they send you to physical therapy?  They can show you what you should and should not do.  What kind of doctor did the surgery?  Orthopedic?  

My other suggestion is to try a sports medicine specialist.  They might know more.  Also, did you have an MRI on your knee after the surgery to see if it worked?