I’m not really asking for medical advice, I’m asking for advice on whether or not I need medical advice, but feel free to act as doctorly as you want in responding.
Here’s the story. I hurt my knee. Last weekend, I stayed at the beach–not on the beach, but 132 steps above the beach. To get onto the beach to take the long walks that were the purpose of my visit, I had to go down 132 steps–wet, slick steps. And, more importantly, I had to climb up those self-same steps to get back to my hotel room. I am overweight, and so that put a lot of stress on my knees, but I’ve never had any knee trouble before. I don’t remember twisting it, but since then, my knee has hurt whenever I walk up stairs. It hurts under the kneecap, towards the top. It doesn’t hurt when I stand on it, only when I straighten it from a bent position, even if it’s not weight bearing. There’s no swelling, it’s not hot to touch, no bruise,and it’s not tender to the touch. It hurts when I put in the clutch in my car (it’s the left knee), and, by the end of the day, especially if I’ve climbed a few flights of stairs, it does ache, a little. It’s not an intense pain, but it’s definately noticable, and I can’t quite tell if it’s getting worse, or just annoying me more.
I have a tendency not to see a doctor unless something is broken, swollen or bleeding. A friend tells me that I shouldn’t just let a knee injury go, I may make it worse. So, any idea what I did to the knee? Should I go to the doctor, ignore it, or baby it and hope it goes away? Or just tell us all about the time you completely blew out your knee and the six-month recovery process, complete with harrowing details about the surgery and the excruciatingly painful physical therapy.
If you went for walks on the beach, that is very tough on your knees. That’s why Navy Seal candidates run on the beach all day, it kills them. You have overworked that joint from the sand and the steps (132 freakin steps??? Have they ever heard of an ELEVATOR??)
I’d recommend walking on a relatively firm surface to work out the strain in the muscles and tendons. Not fast, not concrete. No serious knee horror stories here, but if you want to talk ankles and feet, WHOA DOGGIE!
Thanks, now I have an excuse to sigh a lot and limp–my idea of “babying” it. I just can’t believe no one taken this opportunity to reveal their medical history. In my experience, the only thing people like better than giving medical or legal or mechanical advice (regardless of their knowledge in the field), is telling horror stories of what happened to them when. . .
This sounds a lot like the symptoms I had when I got bursitis in my knee. I got the bursitis because I have a habit of hyperextending my knee when I straighten my leg, and at the time I was a waitress, so I would hurry up to the counter, lock my knees, and turn.
My symptoms went away in about two weeks. As I recall, all I did was rest the knee and avoid straightening it like that. Ice never hurts either, of course.
But what do I know? If it’s still hurting in a couple of days, call the doctor.
Baby it, if it’s still sore in another week, I’d go to the doc. Like you, Kallessa I don’t go to the doctor unless I’m at death’s door.
About 10 years ago, I badly twisted my knee skiing. It swelled up enormously. I ignored it for about two weeks, then went to the doc who told me I’d probably torn my ACL & should have surgery. Since I had no medical insurance, I just had him give me something to take the swelling down. Now, I can predict weather changes in my knee, probably some incipient arthritis. However, had I actually had knee surgery I would probably still have arthritis AND a scar…
Anyway, sounds like an overuse situation. Without any clear history of a traumatic event, there’s not a lot to do other than try tincture of time. As long as it’s not locking up on you, or giving out underneath you, I’d say try an ace wrap or other knee support, and some regular ibuprofen to reduce the pain (or tylenol, if your stomach’s not up for the ibuprofen). It it swells significantly, or suddenly becomes much more painful, see a doc. If it’s not improving in a week to ten days, you may want to consult one too.
Meanwhile, no marathon running, bungee jumping, or skydiving until it feels at least 80% back to normal.
But I assume you don’t want me to psychoanalyze your knee…
Basiclly, you’re f*cked.
Pinky: I wanna climb mountains, with a 35 lbs baby in my backpack.
Bone Dr: You can get to the tv, wih the aid of a crutch.
Pinky: Unacceptable! Must… climb!
Dr. Bones: You can climb outta your BarcaLounger… if ya gotta crutch.
I still climb, just a lot slower these days. I can’t raise my left arm over my head, my right foot is currently broken, & my knees… who the hell came up with knees? What a-hole signed off on this design? The problem with knees is, once broke, always broke. I got friends who have recognized me from 3 miles away, drove up & say “Nobody limps like that, Doc - jump in.”
Rest. Ice. Morphine. Single malt, if yr out.
I’m glad I’m not in HS anymore, where they called me gimp. - Pinky
Completly off topic, but Dr. what is your area of practice? Just curious cause I’m an RN (Med-surg, hospice, critical care). I hope you don’t think any less of me for that.
sums it up the best. Unless you want to move into something modern–maybe Woody Allen? Yes, I definitely believe that Woody Allen would have a lot to say about rashes!
Family Practice. Jack of all trades, master of none. collecting the contempt of specialists daily. Until they want referrals, that is.
I learned most of what I know about real medicine from the ICU nurses during my residency, and after. Most of the rest was just learning how to talk, and listen.
Disclaimer: I am not a physician, and am in no way qualified to diagnose or treat people. All opinions and suggestions are based upon my own experience.
That said – it sounds like patella-femoral syndrome to me. A confirming diagnosis would have to come from a physician, who would want at least a ‘sunrise’ x-ray. Standard treatment used to be 800mg of Ibuprofen (Motrin), three times per day as needed. Take it with food or milk if you have a sensitive stomach. Note that this is far over the legal, over-the-counter dose, but is the theraputic level for a drug you can buy without prescription. Preferably go to a physician who can prescribe something like Vioxx, one of the new ‘super-aspirins’.
There are a few supportive measures you can take. You can either wrap your knee or use a flexible splint. Increasing the strength of your quadriceps is recommended. The quads are located in the front of your thighs. You can also get an orthotic cushion for your heel. Spenco’s polysorb model works pretty well. It goes without saying that losing weight will help.
Oh Family practice, my favorite kind of doc. You know you’re almost like real people. It has been my experience that a lot of specialist’s regard the Family practice doc’s as a lesser species or something. RN’s rate way, way below that.
I’ve been in the health care field for more than 20 years, ever since I started working as a nurses’s aid in a Nursing Home at the age of 18. Once when I had a patient who was going bad, I called and told a brand new fresh out of med school cardiologist that his new consult’s pulse was 38. He asked me “Did you count all the beats or only the ones that you liked the best?” :rolleyes:
I put him on my list of doc’s to torture for the week. I bet you always suspected that there was a list of some sort. Now you know.
Oh, I always knew there was a list, and I did my best to not be on it. The arrogant docs learned best the devil’s definition of a nurse: Someone who can help you and doesn’t, or someone who can hurt you and does. But I learned early that the nurses were generally the only ones who knew what was going on. They saved my poor fanny more than once, and the ironic thing was all I had to do was treat them the way I like to be treated.
Probably is patello-femoral syndrome. Doubt I’d get an Xray unless things failed to follow their natural history of improving in an expected time-frame. I don’t like to irradiate patients before their time. I’d also go easy on the anti-inflammatories, those doses you prescribe have an association with erosive gastritis and hemorrhage. And Vioxx doesn’t relieve pain any better, or even cause less hemorrhage, it just causes less tummy upset, for 6 times the cost of ibuprofen. PT is good, but wait until the inflammation is decreasing. For a first occurance of this type of problem, reduce joint stress, relieve pain and inflammation, and see if nature takes its course for good recovery. If the problem becomes episodic or recurrent, then get aggressive.
You’ll have to bill my insurance. I don’t have my card with me, but if you call their friendly customer service line, I’m sure you won’t have to be on hold for too long. And they play such great music while you’re on hold. Mostly the Beatles. Played on the accordian. Or pan pipes.
It has been my experience that a lot of specialist’s regard the Family practice doc’s as a lesser species or something. RN’s rate way, way below that.