Bruised bones in knee.

[FrankyQ]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this site, so i hope someone can help me.

My story

I was was playing soccer back in july, and whilst trying to flick the ball to a team mate, i twisted my right knee and felt pain instantly. My knee was not supporting my weight at the time of the twist. My knee was very sore the following day but gradually got better. There was no swelling of the knee. After around 4-5 weeks i felt ok to start playing again.
In my first game back, i twisted the knee again, and felt pain immediatley. However this time the pain was worse than the first time. This time however, altought the pain did decrease over the next 2-3 weeks, i still couldnt use my knee properly.
At this point i visited my doctor, he did an examination of the knee, bending and twinstin it etc. During this examination i felt some minor pain but nothing too bad. I had x-rays taken, which didnt show any problems. I was then sent for a MRI scan, this showed no damage to the cartlidge, but did show bruising to the bones either side of the knee joint. My doctor said that it was this bruising that was causing the pian in the knee, and that i should try to use it as much as i can as i wouldnt do any more damage.
It is now 12 weeks after the second injury, and i still cannot use my knee fully. I have no problems when walking, i can even do some light jogging, and there is no pain when i twist the knee. It is when i bend the knee whilst bearing my weight on it that i feel allot of pain.
I am due to go Snowboarding in january, and am getting concerned that this is going to prevent me from gettting on the mountain.

The questions i have are as follows;

1, is it common to bruise the bones in the joint from just twisting the knee (i did not fall on the knee)?
2, Should the bruising of healed after 3 months?
3, Is there anything i can do to speed up my recovery?
4, is it worth investing in a expensive knee support?

Thanks in advance.

FrankyQ

[Vinman]

The questions i have are as follows;

1, is it common to bruise the bones in the joint from just twisting the knee (i did not fall on the knee)?
2, Should the bruising of healed after 3 months?
3, Is there anything i can do to speed up my recovery?
4, is it worth investing in a expensive knee support?

1. My experience would tell me no. But I guess anything is possible. Are you sure there wasn't some other injury even perhaps several weeks before?

2. bone bruises can take very long to heal. typically at 3 months they should be close to healed.

3. The only thing I would suggest here is possibly some warm soaks in a bath or hot tub.

4. No if you don't have any ligament injury then a brace isn't going to do anything for you.

The other piece of info that I think might be important is the pain with knee flexion during weight bearing. Depending on the location of your pain during this, there is a possibility that maybe it could be a symptom of a meniscus injury. A fair percentage of meniscus injuries can be missed by the MRI. If you are having mecanical symptoms such as clicking, locaking, pinching sensation, giving way, inability to fully flex the knee, I'd go back to your doc for further evaluation.

my advise to you would be to call your doc, tell him that you are still having pain and that it hurts when you flex your knee and see what he/she says.

Good luck

[FrankyQ]

Thanks for the reply Vin. Could you tell me what a miniscus injury is please?

Thanks

FrankyQ

[Vinman]

The meniscus is a disc of fibrocartilage that sits between the femur and the tibia. It acts to absorb shock and provide some stability to the knee. It is fairly common to injure this structure during activities like soccer when there is a lot of cutting and twisting.

Symptoms would include
swelling
pain with deep knee flexion
pinching sensation with knee flexion
locking and or clicking sensation
feeling like something is stuck inside the knee
pain on the joint line between the femur and tibia

I'm sure if you google meniscus or even just do a seasch on this board you'll find some info.

[FrankyQ]

Thanks again for the info. I will see how my knee feels over the next few weeks and if its no better ill consult my doctor.

FrankyQ

[WWCD]

I did this dec 2003, doctor told me to take a month off to let it heal enough so I wouldn't damage more while using it. Pain and stiffness were with me until May/June 2004, but everything is fine now. It just takes some time so don't worry too much.

[Edna1]

Hi FrankyQ

Knee injuries are unfortunately quite common and I have twisted mine several times.
thissums up knee injuries in general and explains them plus cause and prevention quite well (though i must say that vinman knows his stuff)
personally - i wouldn't go snowboarding if my knees were still sore - for one - were is the fun in snowboarding in pain, and also - knees are to important to take chances with.
hope you feel better soon

[leroy jenkins]

Hi FrankyQ

Knee injuries are unfortunately quite common and I have twisted mine several times.
thissums up knee injuries in general and explains them plus cause and prevention quite well (though i must say that vinman knows his stuff)
personally - i wouldn't go snowboarding if my knees were still sore - for one - were is the fun in snowboarding in pain, and also - knees are to important to take chances with.
hope you feel better soon

Somehow I think that in the 2+ years since this was posted the guy's knee has healed.

But thanks for trying to help. Thats a lot better than a lot of people do on their first post.

[Jim S]

were is the fun in snowboarding in pain

Wow, I am definitely not inviting you to my Chuck Norris dance party.