Is my knee permanently damaged?

[beesknees6]

Bit of a rant! I’m in my early 20s and just worried my knee will never be back to normal now.

i had never had any bother with my knee until 12 months ago. Firstly, I fell off my horse (16.3hh) and my knee hit the ground first with a thud. It was sore for a while but obviously not broken or dislocated so I iced and managed it at home. Then a month later I fell off again and hit the same knee off a solid log (indoor XC event). Then 6 weeks later I fell and my foot was tangled in the stirrup and I was dragged by my leg and the same knee was badly twisted.

none of these injuries were bad enough to go to a&e as it was obvious there was no breaks or dislocations. I only had minor swelling and bruising. But after each one (it got worse each time) I had the worst pain ever and after the third injury in particular I could barely walk on my knee without it being agony. I couldn’t ride as the pressure of my foot on the stirrup was agony on me knee. I thought it might be an acl or meniscus tear so I paid for an mri privately and it showed there was no tears but apparently there was lots of subchondral oedema at the tibial plateau, mild lateral tilt of the patella, bony oedema at the insertion of the distal ACL and a small joint effusion seen. A lot of jargon but apparently it’s just the fancy term for a sprain! Although this MRI was 5 months after the last fall so they said the fact the sprain was still showing up suggested it was quite a severe sprain at the time. I don’t know which particular fall did the most damage but I guess it was a combination of all 3. I stopped riding for a while, haven’t had any other falls and went to physio which helped and eventually I could walk without pain and discomfort. But my knee still hurts at times especially now the cold weather has kicked in. The physio have said there’s nothing else I can try and to keep up my exercises. My knee is generally ok but is this it now, will it always hurt at times and flare up and down? I know it’s my own fault for continuing to ride on it but it’s so depressing to think I’ll always have knee pain on and off for the rest of my life now x

And just to clarify I’m not usually such a shit rider haha. The first time my horse spooked, the 2nd time he was excited to be at an indoor event lol and the third time was just a freak accident caused by stirrups that failed to release!

severe strains take ages to get better. I have sprained my ankle twice and it took months to recover / close to a year. Still recovering from the second which happened in July and can’t do a lot of walking or running. See a decent osteopath or physio and they should help. And of course, speak to the consultant. Be patient and don’t worry 😚

Oh and I should add that I sprained my knee. Took months to heal too.

I fell on one knee on to a concrete pavement several years ago and it took round about two years before I could kneel down without pain.
There was a lump on the knee that I thought I'd have to live with for ever but it did go in the end.
I was very careful with the knee and it paid off.

Same with a bad knee twist, which I nursed for ages, including sometimes waking up in the middle of the night somehow having re twisted it. That one I resorted to a pull on elasticated binding for, and it really helped until it healed.

It does take ages and ages to recover from tendon/ligament damage as they have very little blood flow so recovery is really slow.

It is frustrating still being in pain though. Just be careful not to damage that knee again!

I fell over onto a concrete pavement nearly 2 years ago and really smashed both knees. They still aren't right and the slightest thing flares them up again. I need to get back to doing the physio exercises as they did really help.

I'm in a bit the same situation, repeat injuries to one knee. Physio's advice, and my experience agree: do the physio exercises, but don't "work through" any pain: if it hurts too much, stop at once. Ice the knee if it starts pinging too much. Think whether things you do unawares may be delaying recovery (I eventually realised I was used to sleeping in a position that put additional pressure on the knee).

But also, as one coming from a family with many (ballet) dancers: sprains definitely take longer to fix. Ballet dancers generally say a clean break is less of a problem.