QuestionHello...
I have a question about my left knee. Here's a little history as it might help.
I am 25 and have been in sports all of my life. I played a lot of basketball & I battered my knees all of the time. As knotted up & black & blue as they would be, there are only 2 or 3 really distinct times where I can remember any pain. One of them was while running a full court press in my 8th grade yr. (my 2nd game of the night). I was running full speed & was tripped. I hit the floor very hard right on my knees. It was a concrete floor. I had almost black looking bruises instantly. I kept on going as soon as I shrugged the pain off enough. They had to call a time out though because the skin on the front of them had peeled off & I was bleeding a lot. (Giving an idea of the batterings.)One other time (my 9th or 10th grade yr.), I had to wear a leg immobilizer, it was something to do w/my knee cap shifting to the left & doing something to the tissue around it.
My knees would look so bad that my PT teacher would make me use the wheel chairs, crutches, or walker while in the classroom (10th & 11th). She would tell me that I was gonna end up using one of those for the rest of my life if I didn't do something. I'd say they didn't really hurt. She'd say you can't have knees that look like that so much, & there not be something wrong.
Well, now I am instructing a stroller class for mom's & about to be a certified personal trainer (still really active). For as long as I can remember now, I haven't been able to sit with my left knee bent for any real period of time. It feels, I dunno', uncomfortable (hard to describe it) & I have to straighten it. Off & on, at least 1x a wk., I will be walking on a tread mill or something, & it will start to feel kinda painful & weird on the left side of my left knee. Now, make a fist with both hands & then push your fists together as hard as you can. That's the best way I can describe the sensation I get on the left side of my knee where it kinda dips in- the left front part to the side, lower part of the knee cap. When that happens, I get this really big, hard swelling in the back of my knee. It is MORE to the right side of it though. Last Tues. on the elliptical, it started hurting pretty quickly. I say hurt but it is just a really uncomfortable feeling with some pain. Again, hard to describe. Well, it started getting really uncomfortable, and my knee really started to hurt in those areas. I figured it would die down if I just kept going, like it would work itself out or something. I compensated by trying to put more weight on the heel and easing off of it when I could. After about 65-70 min. I was done. Well, there was the hard swelling in the back of my knee as usual. Later that night, I was awakened by a pain below my knee when I went to bend it. If you look right below the knee, imagine about a 2in. thick horizontal band going across your leg. That's where the pain was. It was almost like if you pulled a muscle, but different somehow. It was, & still is tender to the touch. By Thurs., that pain was going down from that area to the right side of my calf only, but still with the other pain. Some of the tenderness below my knee has eased up, I can still feel it in my calf, and now I am getting very random sharp pains. I cannot make the muscles flex on the top right hand side of my leg either. The calf will some, but I cannot make the others do it. I also cannot make my foot flex (dorsiflexion) beyond what appears to be a 90 degree angle. Maybe slightly more. (I have broken my left ankle before with ligament damage. That's a delicate description). Also, stand on your right foot and extend your left leg out straight but close to the ground, and extend your foot down, with out touching the floor. I am pretty ok with that position. However, if I even touch the ball of my foot slightly to the floor, it hurts pretty bad. That is one of the more painful positions. So, what do you think? I can still get around on it. I just have some trouble with it, and it is really uncomfortable or unstable feeling most of the time. We have been in the process of trying to find affordable insurance, but don't have it yet. So, I need a brace or something. What are your suggestions and analysis of all of this? What kind of brace should I get?
Thanks for your time. I wanted to be as specific as possible to help. I look forward to your reply. I don't have class tomorrow, but I will have one Mon. morning.
AnswerHi Michell,
Well that was a very descriptive history and much appreciated.
It sounds on the face of it, that you have had patello-femoral problems for quite sometime. The swelling behind your knee sounds like it may be a Baker's Cyst. By definition, that occurs after there has been some long standing internal knee damage. The calf pain may be the cyst draining it's contents into the soft tissue of the calf. My guess, and it is only a guess (not being able to examine you) is that you have some pretty serious internal knee problems as in a cartilege tear and possibly some joint damage to the bony surfaces.Unfortunately, the only REAL way to find out is to get an MRI. That is the gold standard test to determine the type and extent of knee damage.Not having insurance makes that a very expensive test. In the mean time, I would seriously think of curtailing exercise regimens because this can only serve to further damage the knee. Using an over the counter med like Ibuprofen (provided there is no reason why you can't) on a regular basis may help inflammation and pain. As soon as you can, find a way to visit an Othopaedic Surgeon for an exam and an MRI. Too long a delay will only worsen your condition and make it harder to treat.
