You Cant Put Weight On It
If its immensely painful to stand or put any weight on your injured knee, theres definitely something serious going on.
Inability to bear weight after a knee injury could be caused by a fracture, bone contusion, cartilage injury or ligament tear, explains Dr. Brown. Initial treatment includes using crutches or a steerable scooter to take pressure off the injured limb and minimize additional damage to the knee.
If this sounds like you, listen to what your body is trying to tell you. Dr. Brown warns that the old adage of no pain, no gain doesnt apply in this situation.
He advises seeking orthopedic evaluation as soon as possibleeven that same day if you can.
After a minor injury like a twist or fall, you might not be able to put weight on your leg immediately. Thats not necessarily a cause for alarm, but if you dont feel like youve recovered within a few minutes, this could indicate something more serious.
Its similar to when you injure a wrist or ankle. If you fall on your wrist or twist your ankle, you may experience searing pain for a moment or two. When the injury isnt severe, youre able to shake it off and resume your life after a few minutes at the most. However, if youve experienced a sprain, the pain doesnt subside. Instead, it gets worse.
How Patients With A Terrible Mri Had Less Pain And Patients With Better Mris Had More Pain
Lets go further into the complex MRI discussion.
Doctors from the Benha University School of Medicine in Egypt wrote in the European Journal of Rheumatology of how depression may make knee pain significantly worse than it should be, at least significantly worse than an MRI suggests.
In the research we cited above, the MRI suggested that the patients pain should be worse, in this research the MRI is suggesting that the patients pain should be less. The patients in the above study had worse MRIs and less pain, the patients as we will see in this study, had better MRIs and more pain. This is, of course, the inherent problem of MRIs: they do not always tell the true story.
These are the learning points from the Egyptian research:
- Knee osteoarthritis can lead to psychosocial deterioration in addition to physical inability, which makes it difficult to interpret the source of the patients complaints. It is becoming increasingly evident that structural changes alone do not account for all musculoskeletal pain.
- In other words, depression makes the knee diagnosis much more challenging.
Lateral Collateral Ligament Injury
The lateral collateral ligament is one of the four main ligaments of the knee. It connects the outer side of the femur and tibia and is primarily responsible for stabilizing the outer aspect of the knee.
An LCL injury is often the result of a blow to the inside part of the knee this causes the LCL to stretch beyond normal and can result in partial or complete tearing of the ligament.
Symptoms may include soreness on the outside of the knee, swelling, and stiffness. You may experience instability a feeling that the knee is unstable and going to buckle or give out.
32 million adults in the United States.
With aging, the cartilage that helps cushion the ends of bones in the knee joint can wear thin and eventually allow the bones to rub together. Pain, stiffness, and loss of joint movement can follow.
Some people have more significant wearing of the cartilage in the outer compartment of the knee joint and this can lead to lateral sided knee pain.
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Your Knee Keeps Buckling
When you got hurt, did it feel like your knee gave way underneath you? Were not talking about a temporary sensation of weakness or some wobbliness, but more like your shin and thigh bone werent connecting or staying in place. A buckling knee could signal an ACL tear or a cruciate ligament injury.
It could start with a small pop or crack, or you could feel it after a strenuous exercise session or a soccer game.
Either way, your knee feels unstable or weak. Your knee may give out momentarily, which is scary because you might not trust yourself to walk safely when this happens. According to Dr. Howard Luks, an orthopedic surgeon, this could indicate a tear in the patella or the quadriceps tendon.
These tendons are on the front of your knees and offer a lot of support to keep you upright. If theyre not in top form, youre bound to feel weak in the knees , and you might not be able to walk at all. If this is the case, you could need surgery.
On the other hand, the weakness could be temporary, caused by wear and tear, improper footwear, or a strain. If youre a weekend warrior or youre over the age of 30 , you might experience this symptom on a regular basis.
However, if the weakness is recurring and happens every time you exercise, its possible you have a time bomb thats waiting to happen. When in doubt, seek advice from a physician.
If your knee buckles under you when you are walking, then it usually indicates instability, she says.
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What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of A Knee Injury
The signs and symptoms of a knee injury depend on the cause. Most knee injuries cause pain. A knee injury may also lead to the knee feeling weak, “giving way,” or “locking.” Someone with a knee injury might not be able to fully bend or straighten the knee. The injured knee may be swollen or bruised.
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Why Do I Have Pain Behind My Knee
Pain behind the knee may be caused by several things, from age or the presence ofosteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, to a knee injury or an infection in the joint.
If youre under 50 and your pain is in the crease at the back of your leg behind theknee, it may be the result of an injury, such as a hamstring or other knee-relatedissue.
If youre over 50 and you have a creaking, squeaking pain behind the kneecap, or acyst on the crease at the back of your leg behind the knee, it may be arthritis. Again,your doctor can help identify arthritis by excluding other issues.
What The Hell Is Wrong With My Knee
trap_god_3It’s probably your IT band tightening up, that happens because your hips are not aligned right, this can happen easily from skiing and spinning on and off rails, that would explain why it went away and came back, go to a physical therapist they can fix it in like 10 minutes and tell you how to prevent it from coming back. Rolling it and using kinesiotape on it will help alot.I know becuase I do this all the time, and your IT band is the muscle on the outside of your knee
ABallsWelp, went to the docs today and I guess I got some good news. He thinks it’s a partial meniscus tear with tendonitis and he also recommended that I use a foam roller on my IT band. The good news is that he said I can still ski as long as I don’t get fucked up. I just ordered a compression knee sleeve so hopefully that alleviates some pain when I ride. I start PT this week, he hopes that I can strengthen the muscles in my knee to the point where I won’t need surgery to repair the meniscus. If that works out I’d be a happy camper.
ABallsOh man I wish I wouldve gotten that knee sleeve, I just picked up a Tommie copper recovery sleeve to increase blood flow when I ride. I plan on skiing this weekend, not sure if I’ll be riding park but I’ll be icing and stretching regardless.
johnnyBuzIf you or your parents have good insurance just go straight for the MRI. X-ray isn’t going to pick up anything.
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Treatment For Knee Problems
If initial treatment methods do not provide relief, and X-rays show destruction of the joint, the orthopaedist may recommend total joint replacement for the knee, also referred to as knee replacement.
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Why Does My Knee Hurt When I Bend Or Straighten My Leg
If your knee hurts when you get off the toilet or get out of a car, for example, you mayhave an inner knee injury. Your knee may feel as if its about to give way, or it maylock or catch when you bend your leg.
If youre under 50, your knee pain may be caused by a tear that has resulted in ajagged piece of tissue getting in between the joints.
If youre over 50, it may be caused by the onset of arthritis in the kneecap. Yourdoctor can help identify arthritis by excluding other issues that can send pain to theknee, such as back or hip problems.
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Medial Collateral Ligament Strain
The knee has four major ligaments- medial, anterior, posterior, and lateral. Together, these ligaments maintain the stability of the joint. The MCL connects the thigh bone, knee joint, and shin bone. When it gets strained, you experience pain, swelling, and bruising in the inner knee. Ligament injuries occur due to a force hitting the knee from outside. They can lead to a feeling of instability and difficulty in walking.
What Does A Knee Injury Feel Like
Obviously, it hurts! But the type of pain and where you feel it can vary, depending on what the problem is. You may have:
- Pain, usually when you bend or straighten the knee
- Swelling
- Trouble putting weight on the knee
- Problems moving your knee
- Knee buckling or âlockingâ
If you have these symptoms, see your doctor. They will check your knee. You may also need X-rays or an MRI to see more detail of the joint.
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Problem: Patella Or Kneecap Pain
When working properly, your patella should glide straight up and down as you extend your leg. But sometimes the kneecap slides slightly off track and rubs against the bone and cartilage nearby. This can lead to pain and swelling in front of the knee and behind the kneecap. You can also hear a crackling noise.
Your Knee Is Locked And You Cant Straighten It
If you had a knee injury and you are not able to fully straighten the leg, you might have a locked knee. A locked knee is simply a knee that cannot fully straighten. There are different reasons a locked knee might occur. In some patients, swelling and inflammation can prevent you from fully straightening the knee. In others, a meniscus tear has flipped into the middle of the joint and is causing mechanical locking. You cannot straighten it with the meniscus in that position.
Many athletes who have a locked knee will also find it very painful to bend the knee too. They may feel sharp knee pain when bending which can occur when these bucket handle meniscus tears move.
The most common cause of a locked knee is a unique meniscus tear called a bucket handle tear. A bucket handle tear is considered a serious knee injury and will require surgery to fix or repair the tear. The reason these tears are serious is that a large piece of the meniscus tears flips over and becomes stuck in the middle of the knee joint. You need that meniscus to protect the knee. The vast majority of bucket-handle tears can be repaired. So the sooner we start the treatment process, the better the outcome might be after a meniscus repair.
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Is My Knee Injury Serious 5 Signs To Look For
Howard J. Luks, MDUpdated September 17, 2021
Your knee twists, you hear a pop, and now you have knee swelling and pain when trying to walk or with bending your knee. Perhaps you were struck by another player and have bruising, but no swelling. Are these severe knee injuries? When should you consider seeing a Sports Medicine Doctor following a knee injury? Lets go over 5 things that trained professionals look for to determine if your knee injury is serious.
As an active athlete or competitor, you know that severe knee injuries are common. Both contact and non-contact knee injuries can be severe. This post will cover five signs to look for to help determine if you might have a severe knee injury. In general, the most common and worrisome finding is immediate, significant swelling.
Even though most of the injuries I see in the office turn out to be mild, it is essential for you to know what the warning signs are to look for a potentially severe knee injury.
The Impact Of Uncured Knee Pain Depression
There is a lot of research being published on the effects of depression on knee pain. In much of the research, investigators say that doctors are not in tune with these problems in their patients and their scoring systems for documenting depression may not be accurate. The one common thread that appears in many of the studies is that the knee pain patient suffering from depression needs to be offered treatments that give them hope and have a good personal support system. In our opinion, they need to be believed.
A study led by the University of Southern California looked further into behavioral modification in knee and hip osteoarthritis patients with depression. In the very simplest terms, behavioral modification in patients with depression is training in how to replace pessimistic/catastrophizing thoughts, with thoughts that are more optimistic.
- The goal of this research was to see:
- which osteoarthritis patients would benefit from behavioral modification and
- those who would not benefit as much and
- to identify these patients so they could be helped.
The researchers noted that based on existing literature, demographic and clinical variables were specified as targets for potential moderators.
Trial outcome variables , quality of life, catastrophizing, and use of pain medication.
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Why Does My Knee Hurt
If you are experiencing knee pain when walking, knee pain when bending, knee pain when resting, or are hearing popping/clicking in your knee, etc., it may be a minor concern or indicator of a serious issue.
Knee pain is usually caused by traumatic injuries, repetitive motion injuries, long-term wear & tear, or tissue disorders. Below are injuries that are common causes for knee pain, but it is best to enter your symptoms into our Knee Pain Diagnosis Symptom Checker to gain a better understanding of your injury.
People In Pain Have A Heightened Sense Of Pain Maybe Your Knee Does Hurt More Than The Mri Says It Should
Do people in pain suffer from more pain than they should?
A February 2019 study published in the journal Physiotherapy Theory and Practice compared 30 patients with knee osteoarthritis with 30 people without knee osteoarthritis in order to test pain thresholds in knee osteoarthritis patients. Measuring the study participants reaction to a pain stimulus, the researchers found that pain thresholds differed significantly between the two groups. The conclusion that these researchers came up with indicated that the pain the knee osteoarthritis had should not have hurt as much as it did, but it did.
Here is what they said:
- Allodynia and hyperalgesia were demonstrated in the knee osteoarthritis group, suggesting central sensitization in patients with mild to moderate severity of joint damage. Correlation between mechanical hypersensitivity and psychosocial factors seems to be small, despite its significance.
There is a lot to go over here and we hope that it will make sense to you and provide a path of understanding and more hopefully a path of healing.
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How Are Knee Problems Diagnosed
In addition to a complete medical history and physical exam, other tests for knee problems may include:
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X-ray. This test uses invisible electromagnetic energy beams to make images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film.
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Magnetic resonance imaging . This test uses large magnets, radiofrequencies, and a computer to make detailed images of organs and structures within the body can often determine damage or disease in a surrounding ligament or muscle.
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Computed tomography scan . This test uses X-rays and computer technology to make horizontal, or axial, images of the body. A CT scan shows detailed images of any part of the body, including the bones, muscles, fat, and organs. CT scans are more detailed than general X-rays.
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Arthroscopy. A minimally-invasive diagnostic and treatment procedure used for conditions of a joint. This procedure uses a small, lighted, optic tube , which is inserted into the joint through a small incision in the joint. Images of the inside of the joint are projected onto a screen used to evaluate any degenerative or arthritic changes in the joint to detect bone diseases and tumors to determine the cause of bone pain and inflammation.
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Radionuclide bone scan. A nuclear imaging technique that uses a very small amount of radioactive material, which is injected into the patient’s bloodstream to be detected by a scanner. This test shows blood flow to the bone and cell activity within the bone.