Possible Re-injury After Arthroscopy

[laxin12]

History-Last march I injured my right knee playing lacrosse, I am 13 years old.I was sprinting and pivoted on my knee and heard and felt a pop. There was some swelling after the initial injury. I saw an orthopedic surgeon and was told it was either a possible tear in my acl, strain, or cartilage damage. The MRI came back negative. I decided to just play through the pain because it wasnt unbearable and the season was almost over. I went to lacrosse camp and it really started bothering me. I went back to the doctor and was told to start physical therapy. I did therapy for 6 weeks with no positive outcome. The doctor prescribed 4 more weeks of pt and if that didnt work then surgery. The pt didnt work and i had to have arthroscopic surgery. I had a piece of cartilage on my medial femoral condyle that had a small piece of bone attatched which had torn off. The doctor removed the cartilage and performed a microfracture. After the surgery I started physical therapy again and after awhile it really started to feel better and things were looking up. Its been about 3 months since the surgery and last week i made the wrong decision to jump knees first onto sled. Ever since then the knee feels exactly the same before i had the surgery. sore, stiff and alot of pain on the medial femoral condyle. I also have a slight popping sensation inside my knee when i walk.I went back to the doctor again today and he just thinks that i hyperflexed it and have some bone bruising and it will heal itself. I think it may be more serious than that.

To get to my question, is it possible that i have torn the cartilage again?

[laxin12]

thank you so much for the advice. i'm just worried because lacrosse season is coming up and the last thing i want to do is end up missing another season. so far my knee hasnt felt any better since jumping but i'm hoping sometime in the next week or so it will feel better.

[amiey2217]

It is unlikely that you tore anything by what you have described. The type of action that caused the injury is not consistent with a cartilage tear. Also being only 3 months post op, your knee is still healing. I very much think that you aggravated your knee and probably just have some fluid in the joint which is accounting for the popping sensation. It can take a while to get better. I would suggest some over the counter NSAIDs for the discomfort and swelling, as long as there is no contraindication for you doing so. I would expect you should notice some improvement by two weeks. Good luck to you!