Ask:
knee pain
I am 27 year old mother of four. About two weeks ago i woke up feeling as though i slept wrong and my knee hurt to walk down
the stairs or bear wieght on it. I have had no injuries that i can remember. It has slowly gotten worse and while examing it last night, it is
swollen but not red or hot. It has bothered me so much the past couple of days that I am loosing sleep at night not being able to get comfortable. I have noticed pain in the lower part of my leg since yesterday I guess i am just using those calf muscles more then usual. I have tried laying with it elevated and it doesn't seem to help. I have ib profin in 800 ml from a previous lap, female sugery 2 months ago and have taken it exspecially at night to try and sleep but It is not releving the pain.
When walking it will often buckle. I can not lay it out straight or bend it. Even inbetween is bothersome. My husband looked up some information and thought maybe it is tendonitis??? I can not place injuring it at all. I don't want to have to go to the doctor and them tell me go home and rest it and it will get better. Exspecially since we just moved from Louisiana to Wyoming and have no insurance at the time and no doctor. The knee cap itself is tender to touch and feels bruised in some places. Any help you could provide would be greatly apprciated.
Answer:
knee pain
Hi evy79,
Sorry you have to deal with all this discomfort! There are many things that could be causing your pain, and it is impossible to diagnose over the internet, so going to the doctor is probably your best bet for getting an accurate diagnosis as he will be able to do a complete history and physical exam which cannot be done online. You say your symptoms are worsening, so seeing a doctor might be a pretty good idea at this point. Do you have any additional symptoms? Pain that's worse at night or when resting? Fevers? Anything that is affecting you systemically (causing symptoms in more than just your knee) particularly warrants a visit to the doctor.
That said, conditions that could cause knee pain are tendonitis like your husband said, bursitis, arthritis or other rheumatological conditions, cartilage damage, baker's cyst, gout, chondromalacia patella, among others.
Maybe you can talk to some people you know in Wyoming who can recommend a good primary care physican. In the meantime, be careful of taking too much ibuprofen as extended heavy use can lead to gastrintestinal problems and even kidney damage. While ibuprofen can help reduce inflammation it is not intended as a long term solution, so talking to a doctor is important in terms of pain managment. Typically, ice for fifteen minutes at a time is recommended as a safer means to reduce inflammation, but it is not intended as a subsitute for receiving medical care. You can preform a google search for more information on knee pain by utilizing the box in the upper left corner. Good luck and keep us posted! Let us know if you have any further questions.
Answer:
knee pain
Thank you so much for your time. I gave in today and went and saw a orthopedic surgeon. He took an x-ray and i cannot for the life of me remember what he called it but he said it is common in women because of the way our hips are made for child bearing. The x-ray showed that my patella was off set. He gave me some exercises to do. And put me in a brace for about 6 weeks, and told me to take tylenol for the inflammation.The brace doesn't seem to be stopping the locking up, infact it seem like I have locked up more just since i started wearing the brace. Do you know the condition I am talking about?
Can you give any additional info on how to make the healing process better. I am not sleeping well at night cuz it wakes me up often as i am turning in my sleep and then am not able to go back to sleep for a while cuz of the pain. It would be greatly appreciated. Agian Thank you for your time.
Answer:
knee pain
Hmmm, I don't know the condition your doctor was talking about. Maybe somebody else does. It is true that women are more likely to have certain types of knee problems because of their build. There's a huge problems with women soccer players and ACL injuries, for instance.
Doing your exercises will be important in getting your knee better. If your doctor recommened it, doing some low impact exercise such as swimming might be helpful as well. You don't want to overdo it, but getting some blood flowing through there might help it to heal faster, but definetly check with your doctor before you start anything. Icing also might help to get rid of the inflammation. That's all I can think at the moment, for the most part its just going to take some time and patience for it to heal.