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i still have bad knee pain 2 years after injury!!

Posted , 6 users are following.

beatrice_alice
beatrice_alice

Hi smile this is my first post so please be nice!

Background

I am very flexible and my knees hyperextend but before falling I never had any problems.. So about 2 years ago I fell whilst warming up for a hockey tournament. I landed on my leg twisted and felt my left knee give underneath me, next thing I knew I was on the floor. I couldnt put any weight on it and the pain was awful. The knee swelled up and after icing it I could put some weight on it but not much so my school sent me to the hospital. I was referred from A&E to the orthopaedic department where the consultant pulled and pushed my knee and decided he was sure I had damaged my ACL and the cartilage in my knee sad I was then sent for an MRI and started physiotherapy sessions. The physio told me the back of my knee was swollen and he thought I had bursitis too.

Eventually the MRI results came back and the consultant said everything appeared fine (I was shocked as by now my leg was very weak from not being able to use it due to stiffness and pain - the physio said I had lost a lot of muscle mass too) the consultant said he couldnt do anything and told me to continue physio. When I went to my next session the physio suggested that there was something on the MRI but when I said the doc said there wasnt he quickly backtracked and said my knee was fine. He did a test to see how strong my leg muscles were and despite the muscles being weak he said that I should just continue a few exercises at home and I would be fine.

So, a little confused, left hoping it would get better on its own. I quit hockey and stopped strenuous exercise to help rest it.

The problem now

2 years later my knee is still giving me pain. EVERY time I bend or straighten my knee I feel it grinding and it cracks very loudly. Every so often it will randomly give beneath me. I cant sit for long with my knee bent as the pain builds up and i am forced to straighten it to crack it so it feels a little better. I have to sit on aisle seats on planes or at the cinema just so i can keep straightening it and it is paricularly annoying in exams. If I am stood up for prolonged periods or walking any distance, as soon as I stop, my knee stiffens up and feels ice cold inside and aches like crazy!! The night after after this I cannot sleep because of the pain but in the next day or two it begins to feel little better. The pain becomes duller so I can get on with things (the dull pain lasts a few more days then stops. However recently this has been getting worse. The really bad pain now lasts for days after sad Despite walking not that far (around a shopping centre) 3 days ago I am still in agony. It does not seem to be subsiding and im so fed up as im having to sit with it propped up all day but it hurts even then.. It feels as though someone is jabbing their finger in the back of my knee and it really hurts. Im worried about the damage being done to my 'good' knee as i almost always walk with a limp. I have put up with this for so long as i thought it might mend itself but as it seems to be getting worse, im debating whether I should go to the doctors again or not. Im afraid they'll think im a hypercondriac as there was apparently nothing wrong before......

Has anyone had anything like this before ? Do you know what's wrong? What should I do? If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. I'm 18 and I want to be able to enjoy life and run like I used to, not hobble like an old lady!!

Thank you in advance x (sorry my post was so long - i had a lot to get off my chest)

1 like, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • smh2409
    smh2409

    Posted

    HIya, Are you still having problems - its now july 2013? Like you I have had a very painful left knee for 2 and

    half years now. All i did was wake up to go out for the day (to spend valentines day in london with my man) but i was screaming and gritting my teeth due to the pain from my knee. The GP made a home visit, my whole body was thrown into spasms due to the pain but she did nothing but prescribe Tramadol - she didn't

    examine me or touch me at all. I had arguments back then with 2 GPs ,a Paramedic and my partner

    telling them i needed to be taken to hospital but no one would take me and of course i couldn't walk let alone drive myself - I've been fighting ever since while being unable to walk without crutches at a snails pace or do nothing but sit - until today (2and half years on!!) when an MRI scan on my left knee proved i have a torn meniscus (a crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure). I do need surgery to try and repair it.

    My suggestions to you are : go back to your GP and request an MRI scan and two crutches - these are so you walk upright on your leg without twisting/contorting your body unintentionally. Dont use 1 you need to use two crutches. From the MRI scan if anything is wrong then demand to be sent to a senior orthopedic surgeon. Its getting harder to be put forward to specialists now that GPs control referrals i.e. the money, so you do need to assertive.

    Hope this encourages you. Don't settle until you get to the bottom of the problem. After all it is your health not your GPs or a Consultants but YOURS for a life time.

  • joseph05392
    joseph05392 beatrice_alice

    Posted

    Hello Beatrice, read your post and am feeling your pain. I just had a complete knee replacement done eight weeks ago. Yes I still have pain. Yes I still have a limp. But I am not giving up on getting things right.Don't give up. People told me when you get tired of the pain you'll do something about it. Please don't wail that long like I did.I have osteoarthritis in both knees. Nobody knows your pain but you and only you can make that decision to get help. Please don't take this wrong, just trying too say don't give up. God bless.
  • mimi62253
    mimi62253 beatrice_alice

    Posted

    I am not a doctor or anything, but maybe you should go back and ask for another MRI, because you could really have some serious damage. Good luck
  • Phomp
    Phomp beatrice_alice

    Posted

    Beatrice, can you go to another Dr (not in the same office) get a second opinion.  Keep notes on what your pain is like and where it is. 

    ?I would always get "Doctors Notes" after any Drs. visit, even my General Practitioner.  I am 72 and believe me it is nice having your records so you can remember what your history is and what doctors you saw.

    ?Pain is not in your imagination, I hope you get help.  Keep reading posts and other information.

    ?I am not able to get help, doctors don't know what my pain is.  They all tell me it is probably my Fibromyalgia.  I don't agree. 

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