SO, ive finally had my mri ( feb 7th ) and im dieing to know what the heck is wrong with my darn knee, and the doctors saying i wont know whats wrong for almost TWO WEEKS when i read somewhere like two days! I just want to know whats wrong so maybe ill somehow get out of pain some way or another even though i doubt it will be getting that fast! Any how, at work because they just moved into a new office, the main carpenter was there finishing up a few last details, and my mom and i got talking to him and she mentioned how she was working with a injured person ( aka me ) and he was saying how hes had some injuries to his knee's before and he was talking about how i should get a brace for now like just a cheaper one from a drug store for hte time being, and he was saying how cause if you let it go for to long you could end up with a permanet limp, and about how my knee swells at the back of the knee and gets bruised at the back because i use it, he was mentioning that it could be something not at the back wrong but the front like my acl or something along those lines. When he said that it kind of knocked me into reality about it, because alot have said maybe meniscus and ive thouight that to because of where it is and when my chiropractor who does sports injuries was trying to treated it conservativly, he would barely apply preasure on the back of my knee where it swells and i was in agony! So ive kind of been shoved to square onewonderig whats up, and because of how it cracks! It makes the loudest cracking noise, and when it cracksin my knee i can feel like preasures buidling up and so when it cracks it HURTS extremlllyyyy bad! Latly it seems to have been getting worse when it cracks, it doesnt always do it everytime i bend it but latly its beene exxtremly baddd! Its cracking just about everytime now and its soo painful between that and the swelling, and the fact im limping like crazy when im walking as if i have to dragggg my knee behind me because it doesnt want to go! im extremly curious as to why my knee actually bruises when i use it even for 10 minutes at a store it bruises and thats painful to touch, more then a normal bruise! now if i do have to get booked for surgery for ortho is there a longgg waiting list! My last surgery i signed papers that i want it on feb 1st and didnt get in until August 31st! and im not wanting to have another wasted summer of hardly being able to do much because im starting to really not want to force my knee to do the stuff i have done for the last 3 years with it allow it didnt get to how it is nowuntil august, but its been over the last 3 years, so i just wish it would be before summer but im not sure whatt waiting lists are like at my hospital for this
but anyways! I dont quite know what can honestly be said anymore im possibly hopeless until the 22ed of feb, but if you have anything youd like to share id be happy to hear it!
I'm glad you finally got your MRI. I know how frustrating waiting can be, so just hang in there until you get the results back. The carpenter was right about the things he told you. A brace will help protect the knee until you find out what is wrong. It may make your walking a little easier too. Pain in the back of your knee can definitely be caused by a problem in the front. I have been dealing with a knee problem since January of 2006. My kneecap slides out of place, and the cartilage under my kneecap is damaged. The pressure from the kneecap issues cause pain and fluid build-up at the back of my knee. I will be having surgery this summer to correct my problems.
Please keep me updated when you find out about your results. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!
I completly forgot about something, for a while i noticed my knee cap on my bad knee doesnt sit the same way it does on my good normal one, and i get pain in the back at the left side where its swollen and right now some at the front near the bottom right of my knee capp, and when my knees are bent you can see that my bad knee looks reallyyy wierd, and even when straight, i had been saying for a while it looked funny my one friend always said you could see a difference my mom never believed it, she notices it now, so could that play a part in all this fun or is it just me thinking more into things!@
That could definitely be part of your problem. My kneecap doesn't stay in its groove properly. It is called patellar tilt. If your kneecap doesn't stay in the correct place, the cartilage underneath can rub against your thighbone. This rubbing will damage the cartilage. My kneecap also subluxes (dislocates slightly). Physical therapy to strengthen the quad muscles in the front of your leg and wearing a brace are the starting points for these problems. If these things don't correct the problem, then surgery can be done. That is what I am facing now.
my left, it started hurting 3 years ago, during a soccer game, every sicne then it swells up at the back,
it did this like maybe once a week if that and only for a few seconds and that was for about 2 3/4 years, and then just this past august it did it non stop and it has been swollen since, except for 2 weeks i was off for surgery on my nose.
My whole knee just looks messed up in general the front looks like its taken on a whole different look then my normal knee, i no i see ortho friday except right now i am in extremee pain because since the weekend it has GOTTEN LARGER! Like where it should bend its starting to swell there so theres a red line runni g arcoss it because its getting so swollen. i have to work on it tonight which isnt going to help it WHATS so ever, ive tryed things people have suggested certain things but nothing actually helps ive had t3'swhich dont help no anitinflammitory's absorbine Junior stuff my mom got me which just gives SOME relief for a little while but thats just about it!
And about to go nuts! now with seeing the ortho, will he maybe be able to give me relief? in someway or what not... and iwill they like tell me to not do certain things?
Cause im the kind who will do something even though im in extreme pain unless im under strict rules because i just dont want to keep putting my life on hold for this!
Well, as far as the ortho giving you something for the pain, I'm not sure. My ortho didn't. I have tried several different medications myself. None of them have come close to taking the pain away, so I am in a lot of pain all the time (and I have a high pain tolerance to start with).
As far as the doctor telling me not to do things, the ortho didn't really add anything to what my previous doctors had said. They told me to avoid running and kneeling definitely, and they said to avoid climbing stairs whenever that was possible because all of those things will make your knee issues worse. The other advice from all of them was to avoid any activities that made the pain worse, but that wouldn't be possible unless I want to use a wheelchair. I can totally understand your feelings about not wanting to put your life on hold, but rest your knee as often as you can because I haven't, and I have a lot more damage now than what I did even a few months ago.
Please let me know what you find out at your appointment. Hang in there!
OK! NOW i need answers even more! my doctor called and they no whats wrong, apperently i have minimal patella displacement and fluid in my knee joint$! I Do have orth tomorrow except to kind of get myself slightly fimiliar to whats wrong can anyone explain or just give me a heads up to how this could be fixed
You have the exact same problems that I have. For the patella displacement, the doctor will usually recommend physical therapy to strengthen the quad muscles..escepially the ones on the inside part of your knee because that will keep your kneecap in place. The doctor may also recommend a special knee brace that will keep your kneecap in place while you walk. If the physical therapy doesn't work, the doctor may want to do surgery to either tighten the inner quad muscles or loosen the outer quad muscles. This just depends on your doctor. My doctor wants to tighten my inner quad muscles, but in most cases, they loosen the outer muscle.
As far as the fluid, they would probably drain that. My doctor won't even consider draining the fluid in my knee until after the surgery for the kneecap displacement. I can't give you much information about how they would drain it.
I hope this information helps. Please let me know how your appointment goes. At least you know what is wrong with your knee.
k well, thats not what i wanted to hear fully! I got stuck seeing of course the residents there, and the one guy first though meniscus, butt the mri course doesnt show that and what not
and then once i finally saw my ortho he says " well i dont no where that crackings coming from " it could be anything blah blah blah, and saying i think its just weak muscles, and stuff like that, and that the swolling at the back of my knee doesnt seem bad, except if you feel the different youd see its crazy huge compared to my good knee, and its extremly painful at the back but focuses on the front
and they said to do phsyio for 3 months 2-3 times a week
and got a brace thing and go back in 3 months
exceptttt im just kinda still like not all my questions got answered, its like not even close to what id like to have been able to find out.
Like can this "problem" cause all that pain in the back cause my sports injury chiro barely TOUCHED the back and barely put pressure and i could of cried it hurt so bad!#!@$#
So im kinda just going along with them saying SURE ill try it but if it works i dont no, im just kind of iffy about it because if im in pain from barely walking for 10 minutes or a few, how am i going to be able to bare phsyio, so i dont know i kind of have soo many mixed feelings about this right now.
I totally understand your mixed feelings about if physical therapy would work. I felt the same way, and I was frustrated when the pain didn't go away after 2 months of it (actually I did 6 months of it spread out over about 8 months). Yes...the problem with the front of your knee can cause that much pain in the back of it. When I was diagnosed with my knee problems, most of my pain was in the back part of my knee. I only had a moderate amount of pain around my kneecap. I couldn't figure out why I would have so much pain in the back if the problems were in the front. That ortho (that was my first one. A different ortho is actually doing my surgery) told me that the displaced kneecap was actually putting pressure on the back part of my knee which was causing the swelling and the pain.
I'm sorry that the ortho didn't really give you the answers to your questions. As always, I will try to answer any questions that you have based on my own experiences with the same problems. Did you get a knee brace? Keep hanging in there!
Last edited by ozfan79; 02-22-2008 at 09:52 AM.
Reason: added more info
Well im kinda fustrated because he didnt take the time to deal with ME more with his residence! ANd its kind of fustrating when im in soo much agony with it at the back and i mean my ortho hardly said anything to us, ( my mom and i ) it was all to the residence so i dont no kknow all i got told is what i said before in the last post, and its fustrating to me when the MORE i walk on it and do all that stuff it makes it WORSE! and makes it hurt even MORE! It just almost sounds like mine could be almost that way to, kind of!So im kind of like no knowing what to do, if i try the phsyio and see, but still kind of been thinkimg about what another would say just because different surgeons have different opinions! Just like my ENTS one said not to take out my tonsils and the one yyesturday is doing my tonsil surgery to remove them, so i dont know if i should do the phsyio go back and see this ortho but in the mean time try and get a referral to another just to put my mind at rest and get another opinion. I mean they said the brace wont help right away i no that but its putting soo much pressure on that back part its killing me! So im just kind of stuck, because i mean i want to be OUT of this pain cause i cant do anything these days without hurting, after living with it for almost 4 years i kind of just want it to come to an end which makes it even MORE fustrating!
I know what you mean about the ortho talking to the residents more than you. I had that same situation with the ortho who diagnosed my problems. She didn't say much to me. When I told her that I had already been through 3 months of physical therapy, she said...well try it for 3 more months. When I went to my therapist after that doctor's appt, she couldn't believe that the dr made me go through three more months of therapy. That dr wasn't much help after she told me all of my options. After the therapy was done, she told me that she would not do my surgery. That is why I am going to a different ortho. My advice to you would be to start the therapy but also try to get a referral to another ortho who will be willing to listen to you. Did you mean that the brace was causing you more pain in the back of your knee?
thats what i think would be best, because im not all that satistified cause i mean you cant just tell someone whos in soo much pain hardly anything, its just kind of fustrating because doesnt this problem cause that cracking, which they kept making my kneee do so now my knees extremlyyy sore under my knee cap!
But yea i wore it to my co-op today and it was KILLING the back of my knee where its like "swollen" or whatever the fluid is or what not! Like i dont know if its on right but it was hurting me more then it was helping me and i dont want to waste like 113 bucks if i dont even use it! I dont know if its because i was in a hurray and just put it on the best i could because it wouldnt work right for me, but i dont know its been a fustrating two days having to see two different surgeons! And the fact as soon as i LEFT my ent my tonsillitis came back so im completly zomped right now,
Yes, the cracking you feel could be from the kneecap displacement. Have you scheduled the physical therapy yet? If you have, I would ask the therapist how the brace is supposed to fit. It is hard to give you any more advice about the brace since I don't know what type of brace you have. Sometimes, it is just trial and error until you find the right brace for you. I have worn 5 different knee braces over the last 2 years. The one that I am wearing now seems to be helping the kneecap stay in place.
No i havent done another about physio yet because i have to get ahold of my dad before i can even get it or else if my dad cant help then physio wont be happening, but it should be, probably will deal with all that monday or sometime around then! Well im not to worried about the brace thing i mean i did figure it out i just dont really wanna wear because, she said oh its small enough to fit under your pants, which is not the case it bugged me so much having jeans over it maybe because its a new thing, and it kept getting messed up because of them and i wasnt able to fix it because my jeans wouldnt go past it! See the first brace she made me try i didnt mind accept it was a closed back which put wayyyy to much pressure on the back of my knee where its swollen and she onl gave me two options because she said after those 2 they'd be getting way more bulky and unnecessary,
anyways i just found what its called, Dynatrack Patella Stabilizer w/ Coolflex from sport med, i dont know if it really matters saying but whatever yea know, i stilll just feeling fustrated because yea know they're there to help you and thats exactly what they didnt so! argh, fustrating!
I know what you mean about the brace not fitting well under pants..I had to buy all new jeans so that I could get ones that had a wider leg...I found that the brace that I tried with the open back actually made the back of my knee hurt more...I totally understand the newness of the brace thing. It took me awhile to get used to the one I have now. Keep me updated on how things go for you!
so what kind would actually help, because up until the last 3 days everyones thought it was my meniscus because there is soo much pain on my jointline f you barely touch it, but apperently not anymore except im still not sold on all this patella stuff cause i never have pain around it at all, like it radiates around sometimes but most of time its just all in the back, i hardly ever get pain in the front, and because they told me absolutly nothing there and i cant find hardly anything on what they say, im slightly lost for words.
Well i dont know if its possibly to wear it outside of them i dont know! I mean when there asking me so do you feel like its slipping ive never noticed in my life anything like that, i havent noticed anything with my knee cap, so like im completly unsure of all this stuff!
k heres a question im kinda curious about, where do you find the most pain is, and did you ever notice that your patella was "slipping"!
And do you find your knee pops alot, and if it does like when do you find it pops, and when it pops are you able to tell like theres almost a pressure building up there and when it does that its really painful?
Have you ever noticed that youve had like pain along your jointline at the back?
OR that if you full extend your leg you can do it because it feels like something inside is being just pullled and a burning sensation happens.
Like what kind of symptoms have you have with this!
Wow..they really didn't explain anything..all of your questions are very familiar to me. I hope I answer them in a way that you understand. First off, the brace that I have has a tube like area that is shaped like a J around the hole for the kneecap. There are two Velcro straps that help guide the kneecap into the correct position. I can not wear this brace on the outside of my pants.
I do have pain along the joint line in back. They thought that I had a torn meniscus as well, but it turned out to be an underdeveloped meniscus instead.
Most of my pain is around my kneecap, but as I said above, I do have pain in the back of my knee where the fluid is built up. I do feel the kneecap slipping out especially if I don't wear my brace. Although my kneecap did try to slip out once this week while the brace was on. That cracked a lot and was extremely painful. Sometimes I feel pressure before it slips out and sometimes I don't. I also have what doctors have described as a "crunchy" feeling around my kneecap. This is from damaged cartilage under the kneecap. When your kneecap slips out even a little, the cartilage that is underneath the kneecap will start to rub on the thighbone. This will cause the cartilage to break off. That is part of the reason that I have to have surgery. Getting your kneecap to stay in the right place through therapy and by using the correct brace is important so your cartilage isn't damaged.
I can straighten my leg fully, but it feels like something is getting caught inside my knee when I do. I don't feel any burning sensations though.
I hope this helped you understand things more. Don't hesitate to ask more questions!
My knee cap has never given me problems, i had problems with my right knee cap because that one i hurt, but it was because there was swelling under my knee cap from injuring it that it was just pushing it out which made ti loose but it was fine once it recovered! They really didnt pay attention to anything he never asked me on question! the resident had said i think you have meniscus problems, until the ortho came and completly just shuned everything they thought, and went on with them and like never really paid attention to me!
Well see ive been trying to put this stupid brace on all day, except everytime now its actually bugging me, like it absolutly doesnt feel right, my knee cap doesnt slip one bit,and i find its still pushing on the buldge except i dont want to waste this for the money my parents have to spend out!
Like before i got my mri and into ortho i did SO much research trying to find something that sounds like whats wrong, i mean i have pages after pages on everything you can imagine, and i sttarted to focus on the meniscus i went through all of that again today and i mean it sounds so much more like that then it does what they say! and ive tried to look up info on what they say is wrong but there is hardly anything! I could hardly find anything, like still i barely push on the back where it hurts and im in agonyyyy! like ijust wish he had actually looked at whatever cause he did focus on the front pushing on parts around my knee cap asking does this hurt!
I mean i didnt feel NOTHING what so ever!
I dont know, like im guessing they did the same thing and they push on certain areas and ask if it hurt, like im just curious if you ever like noticed pain or anything!
I mean when i kneel down my knee pops so loud it echo's and the resident heard that,
haha im almost feeling cheated! I dont know how, because i guess if i was him i would want to hear it from the person myself, and understand more because you cant face that problem hearing it from someone else because you dont always hear everything, and what not!
Ive honestly hardly if not never felt pain around my knee cap, its honestly always been at the back! it gets soo big behind my knee just at the one side, and it almost feels like it will explode! There are so many times i honestly think the back of my knee is just going to burst open!
Ok, so when do you find like the pain is worse! Is there always llike pain or is it an off and on kind of thing. Oh, and what kind of pain is like a sharp pain, dull and achy or what not! Is it always just in one spot or does it start in one place and go to another?!
See when i try to put my leg straight, i cant because when i do it feels like somethings burning, and like im stressing something at the back!
id be happy to hear it!
