MRI Results - What does it mean?

jennybyc

It means you really messed up your knee.

You have 2 menisci(meniscus) in the knee. They are disks of cartilage that act like cushions in the joint to support and help the knee work correctly. You have small tears in both of them.

And then you have a partial tear in your ACL....anterior cruciate ligament. This is the injury most athletes worry about....what put Tom Brady out of the NFL for a year. In the center of the knee there are 2 ligaments that crisscross each other like and X from front to back. The one that attaches in the back and comes forward is the anterior. The other is the posterior and it runs the opposite direction. The anterior one gets torn when you fall and it wrenches the lower leg backwards or forwards. The posterior rarely gets injured.

The ACL is hard to treat and requires surgery if they are going to fix it. They used to leave it alone and let it just rip but then it destabilizes the entire knee and sets you up for more injuries(that's what they did to me). it is worth fixing. Once it goes, your knee joint slides around and grinds itself up. Speeds up the need for knee replacement and you don't want that if you can help it.

As for the significant swelling in the medial condyle....if you remember, the femur ends with 2 big bumps...each is a condyle and the one to the inside of your knee is very swollen. Why? Probably a bone bruise but the doc will have to see it.

So if they suggest getting the ACL fixed, I would if I were you. They can fix the torn menisci at the same time. Going to mean being off your feet for a while but you'll keep your knee for a much longer time and with far fewer problems. You are young so fixing it makes the most sense.

Sorry..this winter has had lots of victims.

Jenny(14 knee surgeries and counting)

joseph13

Thanks for the info! I actually got a appointment to see the orthopedic tomorrow. I still love the snow!

jennybyc

Let me know what the ortho says..okay? My knees are aching for yours! Or it could be that they are in revolt because they said 3-6 more inches of snow Saturday and another storm on Tuesday! Got to stop shoveling!

Jenny

joseph13

How long will I be off my feet and out of work? I actually work in a hospital, but I work with the computer network and nothing medical. Its a decent size hospital so i do a bunch of walking. Some days my knee feels ok and some days the pain is really bad. Last night I woke up at 4AM in really bad pain. I just want to get this fixed now so I can everything in the spring/summer.

joseph13

Just got back from the doctors......Now I am even more confused. The Orthopedic said nothing is torn and the radiologist that read the MRI is wrong. He said its just a very bad bone bruise and it can take up to 8 weeks to heal. Why has it woke me up in the middle of the night for the last 2 nights. He wants to see me in 4 weeks.

jennybyc

It is possible that the radiologist did not read the films right or it could be the ortho is wrong. What does your gut tell you? Do you think this ortho is off his rocker? If so, see another one. You know your body better than anyone and if you think he's wrong, see another doc. Trust your gut feeling on this.

They can be wrong...a lot. Even I'm changing docs and I have a really good one but he's gotten way to busy and is missing things. It is one field where I see a lot of bad docs. Look for one who deals with knee or knees and hips ONLY...not a general orthopedist.

sorry about that.............Jenny

joseph13

Only time will tell. It's feeling better the last couple of days; except for now. It's 3:00AM in the morning right now and my knee just woke me up with being really stiff and a dull pain.

joseph13

Quick update....it's now been 7 weeks and the pain is back bad again. I can't sleep at night. I have been up most of the night for the last 4 nights with pain. Even driving to work this morning I had a really bad pain and just about had to pull aside. I'm a walking zombie! Can the pain be this bad after 7 weeks with a badly bruised knee bone? I'm going for a 2nd opinion on Friday!