Knee Popped, now in extreme pain?!


Question: I was jumping around yesterday, when I heard this "pop" from my legs, and when I came down, my knee was in a lot of pain, and it hurt to move it at all. This eventually turned to a dull soreness, with sharp bursts of pain if stretched too far. I eventually got my mobility back. Today however, my leg is in extreme pain if I try to walk, it's even hard to limp somewhat. Anybody know if this is really serious?


Answers: I was jumping around yesterday, when I heard this "pop" from my legs, and when I came down, my knee was in a lot of pain, and it hurt to move it at all. This eventually turned to a dull soreness, with sharp bursts of pain if stretched too far. I eventually got my mobility back. Today however, my leg is in extreme pain if I try to walk, it's even hard to limp somewhat. Anybody know if this is really serious?

It's possible that you could have torn a ligament. First make sure you apply ice on your knee for the first 24 hours 15-20 min on and then 15-20min off during the whole first 24 hour period. You can never go wrong with ice even if there is swelling. Ice takes the swelling down. Also make sure that your leg is elevated as it will also take the swelling and or pain down. Sometimes in physical therapy, heat will be applied to help you be able to actually do the exercises such as riding a stationary bike. Make sure it's O.K. with the dr. before you apply heat. From my experience, I had to use Ice on my knee for several days to a week due to a fall after my knee surgery. The dr. said because it was so swollen, I should keep ice on it for 24 hours by using it every 20min and then taking the ice off after 20 min and then putting it back on.

Usually when someone feels their knee "pop" something either gets torn, is out of allignment, or there is another problem that needs to be diagnosed. The fact you can't bear weight without pain is bad enough to go see an orthopedic dr. before your not able to walk at all. My knee popped while I was lowering my infant daughter at the time into the tub and the pain went on for almost a month before I saw an orthopedic dr. My knee cap was out of allignment so the dr. prescribed a special tape to help get my knee the patella(knee cap) with instruction from a physical therapist to go back to normal. Since you are having trouble even limping, if you can get some crutches, stay off of your leg and get in to see an orthopedic dr. Sometimes if you see your regular dr. they can recommend an orthopedic dr. and maybe get you in sooner than if you called yourself. Staying on crutches can not only weaken the leg muscles but it can also cause more time before you walk again. When the muscles aren't being used, you can loose the ability to bear weight on that side but if you have an injury, you should not walk on it and not wait to long to see a dr. If the dr. says specifically to bear some or all weight on your knee, he/she may give you something for the pain so that you can walk on your knee. I was even told to walk with crutches even after my knee surgery. Of course the first 24 hours I wasn't able to bear any weight at all on my knee due to the post op pain but then the next day I was able to bear some weight while using the crutches.There is one exercise that I can say helps a lot of people as long as it doesn't cause you any pain. If any exercise even in physical therapy causes you more pain, then you need to stop and say this makes me feel worse. The one exercise that I did while my knee was in a knee immobilizer was laying down on the bed or floor and bending the uninjured knee up and then doing straight leg lifts with the injured side while keeping my knee very straight (it was also in an immobilizer so it was not going into any other position). I did three sets of ten three times a day to keep the muscles in my legs strong so that I would be able to walk quicker after the injury healed. My knee used to "buckle" from under me causing me to nearly fall or lose the ability to bear continuous weight so that's why I stayed with the crutches and then moved down to a cane. One tip about canes: when using a cane, you should hold the cane in the opposite hand of the side of the injury not the same side as the injury. We normally walk with one leg forward and the opposite arm swinging with the opposite leg forward. If you use a cane on the same side as the injury then you won't be walking "normally". I can't tell you the number of people I've seen who have used canes improperly because they weren't informed on using the cane in the opposite hand of the side of the injury. Also, before doing any exercise, make sure it's O.K. with the dr. An orthopedic dr. who specializes in sports medicine or a general orthopedic dr. should be able to help you. You wouldn't see an orthopedic spine surgeon for your knee but any general orthopedic dr. (sees all types of injuries) could at least tell you what to do and may even refer you to another dr. in the office. Also when you call an orthopedic dr's office, they usually have more than one dr. and they may ask you what body part is injured so they can get you to the right dr. in the office. Oh if you do see a regular family type dr. and he gives you muscle relaxers and pain killers without having you see an orthopedic dr., try to get him/her to advise you on who to see because not everything can be treated properly with a family dr. This is why they have dr's who specialize in other areas of medicine. Hope this helps and I hope you feel better.

i had the same problem. i had to get a bone-marrow biopsy because there was a disease on my growth plate. i had the same symptoms you have. you need to go to the Doc immediately.

Sounds like you tore your ACL. It isn't dangerous, but you need to see an ortho immediatly to get in a cast or have corrective surgergy if need be.

You probably pull tendon or ligaments or both. Ice it 15 minutes, then apply heat to it for 15minutes and try to stay off of your feet completely and it should feel better in the morning.
Use the ice and heat about every 2 hours.

If it doesn't feel better then you probably want to have it looked at by MRI. 75% of the population has some form of knee ailment so it is hard to say if this injury is serious or not until you give it some time. since you where jumping around
I would guess you just twisted or pulled though. One thing is for sure, once you have a problem with your knees, it never seems to go away completey, you will be suseptible to reinjury very easily.

I don't want to scare you but my husband had very similar problem and he had his meniscus teared so ended up having surgery. After the surgery he was o.k. good luck

keep ice packs 3 times in a day, apply ace bandage , rest for a week. then u may need to visit a physiotherapist who can help u further. more details www.spectrumphysio.info

ligamats cover the kneecap that could be it..





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