Knee injury experience? Is this normal?

[Ketchupandmayo3]

I hurt my knee 6 months ago- it was twisted and I also landed on it from a height.

I didn’t go to a&e at the time (with hindsight I should have) because it wasn’t swollen or badly bruised and I could weight bear and walk on it- that didn’t cause extra pain. It was painful/ stiff and difficult to bend and also to fully straighten. It had to be in a semi bent position to be somewhat comfortable.

I eventually went to the doctors and physio and sports physical therapist. The latter two helped slightly but not much of an improvement. My doctor said there will be no serious injury because it wasn’t badly swollen or bruised at the time and they said the pain and stiffness and problems will get better, but it hasn’t

it improved slightly but never fully. 6 months later (to now) I can walk and weight bear without pain, and bending it has got better but not back to normal, and 6 months later I still can’t fully straighten it without getting pain. It sometimes feels like it’s going to give way when I straighten it when I’m walking (usually when I’m shifting weight into my other leg when walking) I’ve also had pain down my calf and into my foot.

I’ve been to the doctor so many times and they said there’s nothing else they can do. Same with physio and my sports therapist, they said I’ve exhausted all exercises they would recommend. I can’t afford private treatment or scans etc

is this to be expected with a minor knee injury? At what point will it start to improve? I’m fed up of this and don’t know what to expect or what to do. I’m worried it’s a torn meniscus although presumably that would cause swelling etc. I’m so fed up of it all.

I have an injury that sounds similar but from years ago. Resistance bands have really helped with strengthening. Plenty of YouTube videos available for what sort of exercises you can do (disclaimer, I'm not an expert but they have genuinely helped) 🙂

Have you actually had an X-ray?
I had a knee injury and battled on for months. When I saw the physio I nearly deafened her with my scream of pain as she manipulated my leg. She thought I had torn meniscus and had me referred to orthopaedics.

They X-rayed and it was Hoffa pad impingement syndrome, which they fixed via arthroscopy. Would it be worth asking for a referral to orthopaedics?

with Hoffa pad impingement syndrome report a "burning" or "aching" sensation to the anterior knee localized deep to and on either side of the patellar tendon adjacent to the inferior pole of the patella. This most commonly occurs with the knee at full extension, dynamic extension, or prolonged flexion.

This sounds very very much like my knee injury - I overextended at the gym and felt something 'go' after a few years of niggles. After that injury, couldn't bend/straighten properly for a good few months and even now, I can't sit back on my heels anymore. Every now and again it will 'go' and kind of click out of place so again, unable to straighten and pain behind knee.
Ive known for a while there was a touch of arthritis there but it started to give way a lot, meaning I was limping for a week or so every time so went for an MRI at the end of last year - I have a bad tear in my cartilage as well as very thin cartilage around my knee which there is hardly any support there.
I've had to give up running and going down stairs can make it ache.
Options given where to try to grin and bear it whilst strengthening quads, keyhole for the tear or knee replacement. All whilst not doing anything impactive.
I'm 49 so putting off any surgery if I can - if I can't I think full replacement is the best option for me.
Sorry you have similar symptoms - has no one referred you for a scan?

The NHS is not great for knees unless you arrive in A&E with it in pieces. I fell on ice. Bruised both knees, swelling went down in one but several months later the other was still swollen. GP referred to physio and x-ray (can't refer to consultant until those hoops have been jumped through). No bony injury according to x-ray. Physio made swelling worse.... Paid to see a private specialist. MRI revealed that I had actually broken the back of my kneecap (wouldn't show on an x-ray) and that I needed surgery to remove the pieces. Several years on my knee has good days and bad days, it grinds or clicks, hates the cold and wet, can lock in one position.... I know I actually need it replacing but my consultant wants to leave it as long as possible- so when there are more bad days than good.

So it's worth pushing, even just for an x-ray or some decent anti inflammatory drugs.

Forgot to say I got injured about 6yrs ago, initial physio/strapped up etc and just put up with it as it would come and ago - until last year when it seemed constant

It's a torn meniscus, I'd bet any money on it. An X-ray won't pick it up, only an MRI. It won't get better without surgery I'm afraid as the tissue is getting trapped between the joints which is what is causing the inability to fully extend.

I agree with @StellaLaBella , sounds exactly like my torn meniscus. Lots of strength exercises , then an MRI , then steroid injection, more exercises… now all ok. Apparently sometimes the steroids can cake down the inflammation, but if not then surgery may be needed

It sounds like my torn meniscus. It took me several months working with physios etc to persuade my GP to refer me for an MRI which confirmed it.

I ended up going to a private physio for about six months (2021 and NHS locally could only offer virtual physio sessions) doing various exercises but have come through the other end, avoided the need for surgery (have a friend who had a bad outcome after surgery for the same issue) and am now back running marathons. I have to really work on keeping my glutes and quads loose and strong otherwise I get knee pain.

Agree that the mechanism of injury and inability to fully extend sounds highly suspicious of a meniscal tear, however I'm surprised that the physio you saw wouldn't have picked this up. Do you know if they did the Thessaly's and McMurry's test on you? You can google them to get a sense of what they look like. I think your first port of call should be a specialist MSK physiotherapist, you could self refer and try one on the NHS again, or see a private one (it's around £40 for an assessment where I am). Knees can be complicated, and detailed MSK knowledge and ability to do specialist tests isn't guaranteed when you see a GP.

You meed and mri sounds like mine. I had a torn meniscus and had surgery on it. Depending on the tear it may not heal on its own. Fyi I never got swelling either. Sounds like you're being fobbed off

I'm glad to hear some of you healed without surgery as that would be ideal, unfortunately that was not an option for my teen DS. He had trauma to it a few months ago and had been able to "jiggle" it back in to place periodically but eventually it just popped and he could no longer bear any weight on it at all. Because the meniscus was torn, part of it was 'unmoored' so to speak and eventually it got loose enough to get wedged between the joints where it got "all mangled and chewed up" according to the surgeon 😫 and had to be removed. He has had a successful surgery, but will probably have issues and have to be mindful of that knee for the rest of his life.

(What is MADDENING is he didn't tell us it was happening, because he could've possibly have avoided surgery if we had gotten him to see a specialist earlier which we would've been able to do easily as we have private health insurance. But that's another story lol).

OP, definitely push for an MRI. But if you do need surgery, make sure you have top notch recs from your physios/GP because as PP's said knees are tricky! Good luck!!

So they didn't do an MRI? If not, push for it. I used to be a physio in another life (so wouldnt put a lot of emphasis on this) and quite honestly it sounds like ACL or meniscus injury. With non-surgical treatment around 6-9 months it should start to feel relatively normal. I personally have torn a few things in my knee that did not require surgery due to the knee not giving out and it was enough to strengthen the surrounding structures. Doesn't work for everyone. Time to demand an mri which they should have done a long time ago!

First you need an MRI of your knee so you know exactly what you have done to it. It's impossible to tell unless you get one. I was told by a number of medical people they "didn't think" I'd torn my ACL but after an MRI it turned out I had a full tear. When you know what's wrong you can treat it accordingly, physio or surgery or a mixture depending on your lifestyle.