Hello. I'm not sure if any one can help me but this is my question About 2 months ago I returned from a game and felt a kink somewhere in my knee. I felt the kink about to the far left and underneath the knee cap. I felt no real pain just a kink. What I did feel though is that when I bent down I felt a slight pain on the outside of my left knee. I the.i started Rotating/twisting left and right very slightly to try to gauge where the pain was coming. When I did that the pain grew to the point were it felt uncomfortable to walk and could not run unless I forced myself. I waited 3 weeks, felt little pain andI could run and played a game. After I came home the pain came back throughout out the day. Waited 3 more weeks, had x-ray and everything was good with no broken bones. The doctor recommended MRI but I can not afford with health insurance. It's been a month since the doctor visit and the pain has died down a bit but I am hesitant to run for extended periods of time. I felt the area and I believe the pain is coming from in between the knee just behind the LCL whe. I press and feel on it. ALSO about 2 weeks ago after no running for about 1 month, I tried running and I felt a slighting numbing pain under the knee cap and middle of the knee joint. Does anyone have an Idea as to what is wrong with my knee? Please leave insight, I will greatly appreciate this
It sounds like it could be patellar tendon pain based on your recent issue but maybe a hyperextension injury for the first. It is very hard to diagnose things on the internet. It could be a gastroc strain in the back of your knee meaning a high calf strain. I would try rolling out the calf with a softball, rolling the ITBand, some light hamstring curls, and some lunges. Progress to some single leg hopping stuff laterally and linearly with running pre determined patterns. Then start easing back into playing. Dont sit around and wait for things to heal...that is old school bullshit. Movement and massage heals things faster than RICE principal. It wouldnt hurt to check out this product by Anthony Mychal called "An Athletes' Guide To Chronic Knee Pain"
RICE stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. Also roll out the quads and stretch them well. That will iron out the possible patella issue.
I had similar symptoms a few years back. Pain in the knee that would go away after a a few days to a week, then return after playing again. An x-ray showed nothing wrong. An MRI showed a stress fracture in the very end of my fimir. Of course I had made it worse by continually playing on it. It would heal a little then I would play and essintially re-break it. Over a few cycles of this I had built up a nice pad of scar tissue on the bone, which tore up the cartiledge in the knee. After a scope to clean up the damage and get rid of the scar tissue, and some time for the break to fully heal all was well. I highly recommend getting that MRI. It can be pricey if your insurance won't cover it but it will better tell you what is really wrong. You could make things worse if you don't get a real diagnosis.
Before the MRI I'd try a few things. As someone who has had 4 knee surgeries and spent time studying athletic training, there are many things you can do before you decide to spend a ton of money on the MRI especially since even the MRI itself is limited in what it can do. I'd say your best bet is to find a doctor who specializes in sports medicine. Not a general family practice or ortho, but an actual sports med doc. Trust me, they are night and day in how they deal with injuries. If you can, find one who specializes in knee injuries. It took me an ATC and 3 sports med orthos to finally diagnose my problems (in fairness, dr was back in HS and another dr just plain sucked). If you can't find a good doc, see if there is a walk in sports med clinic with an ATC available. They can do more testing to see where exactly the pain is and what causes it and then give you information on how to treat it. Many knee injuries don't require surgery and honestly, from my experience, that's all the MRI would say anyway. You don't want to spend your life savings on extra tests if you don't have to.
You might have a severe case of patellar tendonitis. Start with RICE first and foremost, and increase activities gradually, when the pain goes away.