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Serious Lateral Knee Pain

Posted , 4 users are following.

methree4
methree4

I had 4 knee surgeries in 10 years: 2 on the right (ACL replacement and patella tendon repair) and 2 on the left (ACL replacement and medial meniscus repair). PT after all of my surgeries was routine except my last one which was an ACL replacement on my left knee. PT was way more painful and unlike my previous ACL replacement, the vast majority of my pain was on the lateral side. It felt like something was being stretched beyond what is normal when I bent it past 90 degrees (where my knee touches my butt) or extended completely to 180 degrees. When I asked my doctor and PT, they both said it was likely a slight build up scar tissue that needed to be loosened up and it should go away once I completed PT. I completed PT and eventually, the pain became background noise like any other little ache. I began playing sports and working out as usual and the pain was just a dull ache or unnoticeable until about a year ago. I am a little more than slightly bowlegged, always have been, and I've noticed that my left leg does not "bow" like it used to because the lateral side of my knee is so tight. It's starting to create problems in how I walk and workout. I've also noticed that I can no longer bend it past 90 degrees without severe pain. Like during PT 3 years ago, there is a overstretch type feeling and it takes some serious painful but bearable stretching to get it to extend 180 degrees and honestly it never gets to 180 degrees. I've tried doing heal and wall slides (learned from PT) to increase my range of motion but they are so painful that I can't complete a single rep. Also, if I sit for too long with my knee bent, when I stand, there is so much pain that I can hardly walk. If I stand for long periods of time, I don't feel any pain but the second I attempt to bend my knee to sit or stretch or walk, yep, lateral pain. Cycling and swimming are the only workouts I can do where the pain is bearable which is limiting during winter/bad weather. I cannot lift any type of leg weights or do martial arts anymore. I've seen 2 doctors (different from the one who performed my surgeries as he's retired) and they both said it was arthritis (runs in my family; I'm only 30 by the way). Their solutions were to throw pills at it, for me to stretch more and for me to perform more range of motion exercises. I am incredibly flexible and have never had an issue with tightness anywhere in my body except this dang knee. I also don't think its arthritis because the pain isn't in my joints at all, which I emphasized to both of them to no avail. The next doctor I go to, I want to be prepared for what to say/ask so I don't get brushed off. Any help, suggestions, advice any of you might have would be greatly appreciated.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • carol8104
    carol8104 methree4

    Posted

    YOu need to go to a doctor to rule out arthritis.  Get a CRP/ESR test and RA test done.  I also suggest a full bone body scan to show if you have arthritis.  I have arthritis in my entire body and am on an inflammatory diet, take special enzymes that help along with celebrex. I also use smoothenol diluted, Voltaren gel and lidocaine on my knee and low back.  Finally swelling is decreasing!  Until I got some of the swelling out, I could not bend the knee.  So try this.  Smoothenol can be purchased thru Amazon North Star Pharmacy.mix it 50/50 with a carrier oil.
  • sherrie44527
    sherrie44527 methree4

    Posted

    I bought a bose speaker and started up the hill by myself. At first i thought i was going to dye of pain. Sometimes i wear a brace fir stability. I also use a walker. Now i add 2 houses each day and got my physical therapist walking with me. Still need left hip done gonna hold that off for quite awhile
    • carol8104
      carol8104 sherrie44527

      Posted

      I need more work done also.  I went to another ortho doc who put a shot in my hip and it has really helped.  The ortho doctor told me the bone was swollen on hip as the doctor who did the knee surgery put me on a block when he did the surgery and that irritated spot on the bone was from the block.  So if your hip hurts on the same side as TKR, I would get it checked out!
  • michele_9787
    michele_9787 methree4

    Posted

    If you have Facebook look up acl groups there’s no acl peole in here just total knees 
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