Knee Problem in 3-5 hours?

[adventureduo]

So yesterday i carried some boxes up 2 flights of stairs. No big deal. I didn't feel any discomfort per say, but i knew my legs were working hard. Around 5-6pm my knee starts bothering me like it's asleep or something. No pain, just irritating mostly. Around 830pm i take Dixie for a walk and my knee feels worse, pretty crappy actually and im dumbfounded as to what's bothering it. 930pm hits and im at the grocery store in the freezer section (it was 37 degrees on the thermometers) and its colder than heck. I start to limp a little cause its starting to hurt more now. 10:15 im driving home and hurts to depress the gas pedal. I get home 20 mins later and its hard to walk to the front door of the house. 11:00pm and i hit the sack, rub some muscle pain cream (all we had) on my knee and take 3 aspirin. By this time it's killing me. It hurts to elevate it, it hurts in any position. I woke twice in the middle of the night soaking wet, sweating (it was 55 degrees outside). This morning it feels a tad better, but im still walking with a limp. It hurts to put pressure on it and if i touch it there's pain below the cap i guess i would say? What gives?

What the heck could have happened that would make a knee go bad so dang fast?

History: 6 months ago i twisted the same knee when i slipped on a grassy hill. Even at that time it didn't hurt nearly as bad as this. Could this have something to do with it?

 

[BIGdaddy]

its a bot fly.

 

[BIGdaddy]

I would suggest coating yourself with vasoline to cutoff the air supply to
the little guy. (your WHOLE self, since you don't know where it is)

do you have a "vat" handy?

just a suggestion.

 

[Mr. Leary]

Definitely immobilize it. An ice bag may help with the swelling that is making it hurt progressively worse. I've never broke into a sweat from a knee injury before, but I have from a shin hit in soccer that got really swolen. It doesn't take much swelling close to a joint to make it hurt pretty bad! If you broke into a cold sweat, it means it ********** hurts and your body is trying to tell you to take it easy!

At this point... "taking it like a man" may be detrimental to your health. Go get some pills, and take a load off! :ylsmoke:

If I were you I would even go so far as to use this to get a little extra TLC from your honey! Look at the bright side! No shame in ridin' this thing for a little while, right? :coffeedrink:

 

[adventureduo]

Bot fly.... riiiiiiiight.

Mr. Leary, thanks man.. i'll pass that onto Yosh and she what she says.

 

[1leg]

Go to the DR... It never hurts to get a x-ray...

Not to scare you but it sounds familiar. Don't wait 3 months like me...

OK guys if you ever sweet at night do to pain, it's not good...

 

[BIGdaddy]

sounds like a pinched nerve or ligament issues to me. Maybe pressure from slight swelling due to over-exurting an already injured joint(from previous fall?)

is it swollen at all? any bruising?

one thing to consider, too. is the ligaments below the knee-cap. this is a common sports injury.

Google ACL and sports medicine/treatment.

Torn, pulled or irritated ligaments are very common with football players who's legs take a beating.

 

[adventureduo]

No bruising, and cant tell its swolen too much. It's starting to feel better as long as i stay on it and keep walking around. It's when i sit for lengthy bit of time i get up and damn if it hurts like a SOB.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Cut and Paste, Dave...hope it helps rule it out, at least. I'd consider the Bot a close second, though...haha...feel better.

While not every ACL knee injury presents with the same symptoms, chances are you will have several of those listed below.
Swelling
Swelling is one of the most reliable symptoms of a torn ACL. ACL knee injury involves a disruption of the anterior cruciate ligament. Since this ligament is within the knee joint, swelling that occurs with a torn acl is confined within the joint. This means that your entire knee will swell, often quite a bit.

Your knee will feel very tight, and will look visibly larger than your uninjured knee. When put side by side, you will be able to tell if it is swollen. Many people describe it looking like a grapefruit - large and puffy. Your knee cap may dissappear. This type of swelling is called an effusion, as it is contained within the joint. ACL knee injuries will swell very quickly, usually within the first 10 minutes. This is important to know when you talk to your physician, because it helps to differentiate your injury from other types of knee injuries during evaluation.


Pain
Another very reliable symptom of a torn ACL, pain is very common with ACL injury. On a rare occasion I will see patients that did not have any pain with their initial injury, but this is extremely rare. Pain is usually rated as moderate to severe, 5-9 on a 10 point scale. It is usually described as sharp initially, and then may become throbbing or achey as your knee begins to swell.

Trying to straighten or bend the knee often increases pain, and this is especially true after the knee swells up.


Feeling or Hearing a "Pop"
One of the most common symptoms of a torn ACL is feeling or hearing a pop during the initial injury. Often times my patients will not be able to tell me exactly what happened when they hurt their knee, other than they felt or heard a pop, and it hurt...a lot. The pop may or not actually be the ACL tearing, or it could be from the force of the femur and tibia rubbing against each other. If you heard or felt a pop, you very well may have suffered an ACL knee injury.


Loss of Range of Motion
Because an acl knee injury causes swelling, another one of the symptoms of a torn ACL is decreased range of motion. Most commonly you will have trouble bending it, often unable to bend to 90 degrees. It may also be difficult to completely straighten it out.
Loss of Strength
Symptoms of a torn ACL also include quadriceps weakness.Again, because of the swelling and injury to the knee, the quadriceps muscles will be inhibited by the body in order to try to protect the injury. This means that you will have trouble lifting your leg, or straightening it out, both because of pain, and a feeling of weakness.

Giving Away
The anterior cruciate ligament is a major stabilizer of the knee. It helps the joint communicate with the muscles to keep the knee stable. If it is disrupted, you may have episodes where you knee feels like it gives out, or buckles. This is especially true when you walk on it, or try to turn on your injured leg. This is one of the most common symptoms of a torn ACL.
Summary
ACL knee injury is a significant sports injury. If you suffer from any of the above symptoms of a torn ACL, you should see your family physician as soon as possible. While no acl injury is exactly the same, the vast majority have some if not all of these symptoms.

 

[adventureduo]

Thanks Brian... maybe i need to watch one of the Athletic training videos we do here

 

[Lost Canadian]

Sounds really similar to an incident I had back in highschool playing football. Played the game, never noticed anything during the game, felt fine after the game, but later that night, big time pain set in. We actually went out for dinner but the pain was too much for me once we got to the restaurant and I just went and laid down in the car. Anyway, after a trip to the sports doctor I found out I had a miniscus tear and a strained ACL. I only missed one game but I was limping for a good month or so after. The knee has never been the same and I still feel it every now and then, it's most noticeable in winter.

For sure get it checked out.

 

[adventureduo]

That sucks Trevor.... maybe i twisted it or something carrying the boxes yesterday? or made my old minor injury worse. Heck i don't know. Im sure wearing sandals 24/7 doesn't help. All i do know is that the Tylenol (all we had at the office) has worn off and i just walked up some stairs.... and all be... i need a motorized seat now DOH! This sucks and it's really bad timing.

It was funny when a customer came in today to pick up. They asked why i was limping and i said i screwed it up, but didn't know how. They figured i was rock climbing or hiking or something. Sounds like i need to make up some crazy story eh?

 

[adventureduo]

Ok, pain is back and now the knee is swolen. Under the cap to the inner thigh side of the knee there's like a bulge. Grrrrreat.

 

[1leglance]

I would pm Ed as he is a Dr and all
But I am thinking off the top of my head that you have a fluid buildup due to a tear or something that is causing inflamation.

It gets worse when you rest since the fluid can build up, and better when you move as the fluid is shifted and absorbed...I think.

Remember RICE, rest, ice, compression, elevation...usually no more than 20min with an ice pack and then off for 20min or circulation is effected.

But like I said, pm Ed as he is a sharper pencil than I.

 

[adventureduo]

Thanks Lance, it seems a tad better today. The bulge isn't too bad. Just hurts to stretch my leg now, like my knee is really tight.