Suspected merniscus sprain/tear

[DarkLion]

Hi, I just wondered has anyone had this?

I was doing so well with gym and running until I developed a calf problem so was just doing gym and stopped running. Sod’s Law I twisted funny on my night shift as a nurse last week and heard a pop! Was absoloutely fine then the next day woke up in pain, over the coming days I’ve got swelling, pain and I’m unable to straighten my leg.

went to walk in centre yesterday thinking I better get checked as was meant to be straight back on nights and they think it’s a merniscus problem, did some tests on the bed and said hopefully it’s a sprain rather than a tear. I’m in so much pain however and struggling to weight bear and sleeping is hard. I’ve already been doing rice and otc painkillers so they said I’m doing everything right but if it is that it’s not a quick recovery. I’m already under physio so they said to speak to my physio about this issue so they’ve changed my appointment in 2 weeks to a longer appointment and I can no longer do the exercises for the calf issue which is on the same leg.

I’m off work for a week trying to recover but I’m meant to be back on nights next week. I’m a ward nurse on a busy elderly ward which is very manual handling heavy for moving and turning patients, hoisting up etc and I’m now concerned I don’t have such a stable base. Is it a bit optimistic to be back at work next Wednesday and should I see my gp for a sick note? I literally barely get to sit down on my shifts from answering buzzers. Also really sad about pausing my fitness progress at the moment 😞 Wondered if I could hear some experiences from anyone that’s had it managed conservatively with physio. They did say if physio doesn’t help it may need further imaging. It honestly feels like if I was to force my leg straighter that something would snap 😬

I tore my meniscus about 10 years ago (in my 30s). It was absolutely awful. I was living abroad at the time and (private health) recommended surgery but a good friend was a physio and said that would be a slower but ultimately more stable recovery pathway - and I think he was correct! I believe it depends on the nature of the tear though as some
of it has the potential to repair and the other doesn’t. I’m a bit surprised they aren’t giving you further imaging now as the physio will be a waste of time if it’s the latter?
You’ll definitely need either a sick note or modified duties as this isn’t a quick fix.

Thank you for replying! Sadly I thought as much 😞 was just walk in centre I’d been to as joint things all go through there now and they just basically said that if there’s no improvement with physio, that’s when it will need assessing with imaging but at the moment it kind of feels like I don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with. I am going to have to go to my GP tomorrow though as really struggling with pain management. I tend to have a high pain threshold but the pain is genuinely making me feel sick, each day that passes it seems to be worse right now 😩

For this I called 111 and got sent to the hospital, then a follow up where they said probablt meniscus and got put on waiting list for MRI. It can also be fluid though, or a number of other things, and they also wanted to do blood to check for systematic inflammation. I found you can't work in an active job, but obviously this depends on each person and what they do, but the hospital gave a sick note.

The important thing with a knee injury, is once the worst of the swelling goes down, you want to get it moving, as knee ligaments have poor blood flow which slows the repair. If the tear is below the kneecap, to work on beginning to straighten it, you need to engage your quad to pull your knee cap upward, then straighten your leg carefully, stopping at the pain point. If that gives you any extra movement, try do it every now and then to get that bit of movement and build up to doing ten reps three times a day. If it doesn't help, then don't do it.

You'll definitely need to take time off your current duties. Either alternate duties or time off sick. It's your knee and it's very easy to worsen. In terms of your fitness journey, after a few weeks you can carefully go back to upper body strength training (take a little break while it's a new injury as your knee stabilises you a lot even with upper body) and talk to your physio about leg work, like introducing leg extensions and bridges as you get more movement back (maybe in a month or so). Walking in a swimming pool can also help, as it's supported. And your physio might ok freestyle swimming before too long, though a snorkel may help at first as rotating to breathe can be quite painful.