torn MCL will I be the same?!

Hi, The ortho said I have a torn MCL mentioned maybe ACL. But didn't really seem to worry about it.

Last night in bed hubby was trying to help me when I was trying to get my right foot under the blankets (right knee injured), he thought I was in the clear and pulled on the blankets. Only to find out my foot was stuck. My leg came up (it hurts to bend it more than slightly) and it made a bunch of cracking and popping noise. I instantly screamed and cried in pain. Hurt badly. Should I be worried? My accident was saturday. I have been walking better each day. Granted still not normal, but I could walk more without crutches just using the brace. Today I can barely put any weight on it and it hurts like heck to move it.

When will I be normal again? I play volleyball and I can't wait to play. When will that happen? If I do get to play again will it never be the same?!

Help!

A tear in any of the cruciate ligaments can take months, if not longer to heal. You do not need these ligaments but you have to be extra cautious when you do not have them.

Individuals who do not have them reconstructed do have problems with pain and weakness. Most likely you will not be able to safely play volleyball again without either having your ligaments reconstructed or without a brace. I wouldn't even suggest you attempt it without one, even after you are healed.

Definately talk to your doctor and express your desire to play volleyball again. If it's that important to you, you may be better of just having them reconstructed instead of waiting for them to heal. Tears can generally heal but your ligaments will never be as strong as they once were.

Barbie

Hello, I tore my MCL about 2.5 years ago. That seemed to heal fine, but I have other problems ever since the injury. I never had a knee problem until this MCL tear. What I thought was weird was my knee was in a locked position, I could not bend or straighten it completely. Is your knee in somewhat of a locked position? Tell your doctor to give you an MRI (if you have not had one already) and make sure the MRI is a higher powered one, 1.5 Tesla rating. I had an MRI and the doctor told me things were fine, but I had so much pain. I went to another doctor for a 2nd opinion and he told me that the MRI I had done was not good enough to tell exactly what was going on. So I got another MRI done on a higher powered machine. I wish I knew this earlier!

I agree about the MRI. I had several MRI's on done on my knee and they generally say nothing is wrong. My doctor went ahead and did a knee scope just to clean up the cartilage only to find the elasticity of my acl was comepletely gone! I ended up having my ACL reconstructed and then later my PCL because it was too taught from the ACL surgery.

It seems that once you have a knee problem you'll have them for the remainder of your life. My knee hasn't been normal since I was a child and had one knee surgery back then. Since then I've had 4 knee surgeries and am due for a knee replacement which I'm trying to avoid.. LOL

Hi,
not sure what you mean by locked position?

My knee doesn't feel stuck or locked if thats waht you mean! Its about a week later now and I still have some swelling. I can't put my full weight on it - especially without a brace. It hurts to completely straighten it and it hurts to bend it too far. I can't even get my knee to bend into a normal sitting position without pain.

I do want an MRI, I would feel more confident if they did that along with a physical exam. The way I see it, it's my knee thats injured I'm the one dealing with it!!

Sorry it's been a while for my reply, but I finally had my knee surgery and have been recovering. What I mean about the "locked" position is that I could not completely bend or straighten my knee (I had maybe around 10-15 degrees of movement). I don't know if this is common for an MCL tear, but that is what happened to me.

You should demand an MRI, you are absolutely right in that you are the one who is dealing with the pain! Don't let the doctor "downplay" your pain, make sure he/she takes your concerns seriously. Tell them that you want an MRI on a machine that is a minimum 1.5 Tesla. The first MRI done on me was a low magnification (.2 Tesla) and it did not show what was going on. It took over two years (after having an MRI done on a more powerful machine) to finally find out that there was a reason for my pain! You have to make sure that you didn't damage anything else.

How did you do it? I was snowboarding and twisted it getting off of a lift. I think the leash for my board got caught on another rider's board which forced my left leg in a different direction than I intended! I too like to play volleyball as well as run and this injury has been so frustrating! I just hope that you have better luck with the doctors than I did! Make sure they listen to you! Be demanding, it's your knee and it's painful to deal with! Let us know how you are doing, I hope you start to feel better!

Originally Posted by Jon powell

Hi,
not sure what you mean by locked position?

My knee doesn't feel stuck or locked if thats waht you mean! Its about a week later now and I still have some swelling. I can't put my full weight on it - especially without a brace. It hurts to completely straighten it and it hurts to bend it too far. I can't even get my knee to bend into a normal sitting position without pain.

I do want an MRI, I would feel more confident if they did that along with a physical exam. The way I see it, it's my knee thats injured I'm the one dealing with it!!

Hi, just responding. Got back from vacation yesterday.

How are you healing?

Yes, I can't straighten leg all the way or bend it all the way. I dont get pain when trying to straighten ..the thing just won't give. The bending portion I get serious pain when I go too far. Now I can almost get it to the normal sitting position (on a chair with feet flat on floor in front of me), but not quite. Usually my injured knee stays a bit out from the other. 2 weeks later, I am still swollen, not as much. Where it's swollen is the inside of my knee (MCL I guess) and the outside of my knee....just above my kneecap, but more to the side than directly above it. PLus my knee just looks lumpy.

I was playing volleyball. I lunged slightly, felt like my foot stuck, body kept going, It felt like my leg broke at my knee (not sure which way it actually bent---- and IT DID), but I heard a bunch of tearing, cracking noise then finally a pop and I collapsed.

On tues I am seeing a different doc. Didn't like the other guy. I just hope things will go quickly, hate waiting around!!!!

Thanks.

My healing is coming along slowly, I am just going crazy sitting around NOT being active!

After my MCL tear the upper-outer portion above my kneecap hurt as well as the MCL area. From what I remember the bending hurt me more than than the straightening did. I hope that you get a doctor that you like for another opinion. Demand an MRI be done because if you heard a bunch of tearing, cracking and then a pop, there may be some other damage. I really hope that it's just the MCL, but it's good to just get an MRI done and keep a copy for your own records (piece of mind).

I really hope that you get better quickly so you can get back to volleyball, I know how it feels to be laid up!

Take care and let us know of your progress.