I know most of you aren’t doctors- just looking for personal experience with this.
I started walking almost every day back in March, at that time I was about 50lbs over weight but kept it really low key and got about 30 lbs off. Occasionally, I would have an ache on the outer side of my right knee, once or twice it was persistent over a day or two and then it would go away. When summer started, I joined a gym and started treadmilling about 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I also hike a bit in desert washes/flats while I work dogs. Since I started at the gym, I’ve noticed more pain in my knee, particularly right towards the end of and the morning after my workout.
I had a bad fall about 3 weeks ago that cause alot of bruising and swelling right between my knee and splint. Since then, my entire lower leg and the knee are painful on most days- not to the point I limp or can’t workout, but just really aching pain. Anyways- I’m worried my ACL will tear or some other catastrophic knee injury that I can’t afford either financially or weight/health wise. I’m in a really good exercise habit now and hate to change that too but not sure that a G.P will really be able to tell me what’s going on or do anything until it blows out. Maybe I’m just getting old (only 35 but always carried extra weight most of the time). Anyways else had this kind of thing happen? I hate being sick or hurt, I am used to just toughing it out but don’t want this to become a bigger problem.
I have no medical training, but have had five knee surgeries. So here’s my opinion:
If there was no more swelling than seems normal for a bruise that size, there’s no instability in the knee (it doesn’t buckle or feel like it slips out of place for a second), the pain doesn’t get worse when you exercise, the swelling disappears, and the pain mostly goes away within a month or so, then I think it’s OK to skip the doctor, particularly if you’re paying full cost out of pocket.
You can be reassured that aches and pain are not signals that your ACL is about to blow (knee ligaments are almost always fine until a sudden violent accident tears them). Pain could mean different things, but if it doesn’t hurt more to exercise and there’s no instability, you’re probably not making it worse by exercising.
If it does hurt worse when you exercise, it could mean a bunch of things: just normal acceptable soreness, cartilage damage, tendonitis, other inflammation, or possibly (but less likely) ligament damage. The hard part is knowing when the pain is beyond normal soreness. I don’t have a magic answer unfortunately.
If the knee feels like it’s slipping around or otherwise unstable, though, get it checked out immediately; it could slip out at the wrong time while exercising and lead to that sudden violent accident that causes even more damage.
If you do see a doctor, though, I recommend skipping the G.P and going right to an orthopedist. The first time I saw a doctor (GP in the emergency room) for a knee injury, they said it was fine (‘just tweaked it’); when I finally saw an orthopedist, it took them less than 30 seconds to diagnose the ACL tear.
I’m sure everybody else will disclaimer their posts enough to cover mine.
Sore knees can be caused by any multitude of things. Usually it’s easy to differentiate between muscular and joint pain, but trauma-induced swelling and stiffness often feels the same as creaky, chronic inflammation.
Have you tried taking various antiinflammatories to see how you respond? Lateral knee pain, particularly in those just starting to exercise, can often by caused by a tight Iliotibial band. Stretching and soft-tissue work like foam rolling might help.
As others have mentioned, ligament damage is generally associated with acute, sudden injuries, not sore knees.