Soccer Knee Injury

[kristab]

I'm 16, and about a month ago, I went from standing to sprinting very suddenly and felt a pop in my left knee. Immediately afterward, my knee felt somewhat weaker than my right one. In the days and after, I began to experience some pain. A week or closer to two later, I went to the doctor, who told me to wear a brace and ice it and come back in a week. I still played soccer, but I told my coach what was wrong and he told me to keep playing even though I was in pain. When I went back to the doctor, he told me to not excercise for ten days and if my knee still bothered me, I should go see someone who specializes in this sort of thing. it' now been about seven days and I'm still in pain.
   The pain is on the inside of my knee. It is swollen, and my whole leg appears to be swollen. my knee is also red. Without my knee brace on, my knee feels weak and unstable.
    Any idea what could be wrong? Thanks very much.

[soccerballa]

I had a meniscus tear in my knee had a menisctomy on June 7th 2009.  i have been through therapy back into strength training so i could get back out on the soccer field. Its coming up on 5 months and i still cannot play.  if i run it swells .  The surgeon takes me off any activity and back on celebrex to reduce the swelling.  Why is it taking so long ? I was told i would be playin soccer again in 8 weeks at the longest.  Anyone else have  this experience? does it ever get better?

[JainMD]

Hi Krista,
How old are you?
Your symptom of swelling below and away from joint with feeling of giving away suggests that you have ligament injury.
I think you should be seeing orthopaedician at earliest and get imaging study done to rule out other pathologies.
Keep me informed.
Bye.

[kristab]

Krista is my name.
The swelling is underneath the joint, but it's also to the inside and down a little below the joint (still on the inside). Sorry if that was confusing...
It is tender and bruised. It feels a little warm, but not too bad. My knee is stiff and sometimes I feel it giving out on me.
I'm going back to the doctor this Tuesday.

[JainMD]

Hi Kristab,
How are you feeling? Is Kristab your name?
Swelling in the knee joint space can be secondary to hemarthrosis (fracture, ligamentous or meniscal tear) or inflammation (arthritis, gout, infection).
Assess the knee joint for warmth, which may indicate active inflammation.
Do you have tenderness over the joint? Do you feel warmth over the joint? Do you feel feverish any time? Is there any concern over the movement over the joint?
Can you tell me exactly where is the swelling, is it within the joint, above the joint or below the joint?
I think you should be consulting an orthopaedician for review and for any imaging studies if required.
I would be interested to know about further developments.
Keep me informed.
Bye.

[kristab]

i've been doing physical therapy and it helped. I feel little or no pain when running or play soccer (although kicking causes a little pain), but afterwards my knee swells up a little and is sore...almost feels like it's burning. Is this anything to be concerned about? I do these exercises for pt where I stand on one leg and balance and reach my other leg out, and when i do this, i can feel something clicking. Again, is this normal??

[lucy1122]

Perhaps you have torn your meniscus?  I am a ball player and I tore mine in three places (unknowingly) and continued to play as best I could, for another month.  Saw the surgeon a week later, had arthoscopic surgery on September 20.  So my suggestion is that have your knee scoped if the pain and swelling persist.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease...my family doctor, who is a sports med guy, looked at it four times before I decided to take further action.  Two weeks later I was in the operating room.

[kristab]

I just did a quick search and found it be called the plica.

[kristab]

I went to the orthopedic doctor today and he said everything in my knee was fine structurally. I was hoping someone could help me understand what he told me a little better. he said that the "shelf" in my knee (he used a greek word but I can't remember it offhand) moved and got caught underneath my knee cap. To fix it, I am required to do some physical therapy. Could someone please explain this a little more?

[Anant10]

Hi,

It seems that you have injured a ligament in your knee. It could be anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). I hope you are seeing an orthopedics surgeon. MRI knee will help in making a diagnosis.