Problems with knee following an injury

Hello,  I am a firefighter that was injured on the job about 2 months ago.  I had my leg wrapped up with a large diameter hose that was pulled forcibly causing a twisting motion.  I felt a pop and pain radiated through my knee and leg. I stayed in a standing position the entire time but shifted my weight to my unhurt leg after the intial injury.  The leg and knee felt weak and I had trouble walking up any inclines.  I went to the ER and they did X-rays and found nothing broken.  They referred my to a occupation therapist.  I iced the knee, with compression, elevation and Ibuprofen for a couple days before the appointment.  The day of the appointment it was feeling much better, I was able to do the movements in the appointment with little pain and a small amount of swelling.  I was cleared to go back to work.  I had a hint of trouble when leaving the appointment, I tried to walk down some stairs and it was difficult and painful.  Going up not much problem just going down.  I was on an EMS call a couple days later and had to walk up some stairs to a 2nd floor apartment,  I needed to carry approximately 6o - 70 lbs of equipment up the stairs but almost couldn't because of the intense pain that shot through my knee.  I saw my doctor who stated it was a ligament strain that would take months to heal.  I have had some improvement in the knee but I have found when I pull on my leg such as from tripping or catching my foot on something I have that intense pain that shoots through my knee with weakness in my leg.  This is followed up with immediate swelling.  My question is do I just keep using the RICE method or do I need to see a specialist.  Is this normal for a ligament sprain?    

2 likes, 6 replies