Has anybody ever tore the meniscus in thier knee(s) before? Anyways, my left knee has been kind of awkward since my sophomore year in high school (about 3 or 4 years now). My sophomore year, I somehow hurt my knee, and it gave me pretty bad pain. Why I never saw the trainer, I don't know. Back then, I couldn't even bend it to a 90 degree angle, and it hurt to straighten it out. Now, it pops out of place maybe once every 3 days or so, and I have to pop it back in. Generally, it's just semi-unstable feeling. I can pop it in and out of place at will. Lately, though, whenever I plant my foot and have my leg in an upright position, I sometimes get a pinch in my knee that hurts insane amounts. It only hurts for about 2 seconds at a time, but it hurts kind of bad. Now, judging from a class I'm taking right now (basically, I'm no expert), it sounds to me like I may have torn the meniscus(lateral meniscus) in my left knee. I seem to have most of the symptoms. The only thing is, I just gone done going to the doctor for an ear problem (went to the specialist as well), and I hate making so many trips to the doctor. So, my questions are something like this: If anyone has ever torn their meniscus (a semi-common knee injury), did you have any of the signs/symptoms? Should I go to the doctor, or can I just get by with it, like I have for the past couple of years? Will it get worse/arhtritic/etc.?
I cant diagnose your situation but I'm going through a weird situation with my knee. I'll feel this pain on the right the side of my knee and I cant straighten my leg. Then it'll pop back into place and I'll have no pain. I think it has something to do with my illiotibial band.
You shouldn't really diagnose yourself. You should see a Doctor for X-rays and maybe an MRI if needed.
I've torn my meniscus three times. It started in 96, then 98, and finally 99. All three time the pain was so severe I coudn't put any weight on my affected knee. I coudn't straighten it out at all and it was kinda turned outward. A simple MRI can diagnose the tear. I now have 50 percent of meniscus in my knee and can hear it pop from time to time. The pain from surgery was severe and will put you will out for at least 2 weeks. Get it checked asap. Hopefully minimal damage has occured.
I'm just wondering if it's a possibility. I know if it is torn, or whatever, it can't be bad. I remember my sophomore year not being able to do squats all the way because the pain would be so unbearable, even when I was only doing like 200 lbs. I guess I was too afraid to tell my trainer. I remember not being able to bend it all the way, either. The one thing I do remember is that we had to max out, and I was too afraid to say anything about my knee. I ended up squatting like 350, which is way under what I should have been doing. I didn't go nearly all the way down, and I could hardly walk for like a week afterwards.
I didn't tear mine, but I strained it I think and it was hurting enough that I did see a doctor and had to go through some shock therapy. Took about 3 weeks but I was fine after that, go see a doctor they usually know what they are doing
its a very minor surgery. get it done and see a doc. you will be feeling much better after and probably be walking on it the same day or a day later.
Torn ACL, partial Meniscus tear, and partially torn MCL all on my left knee. Trust me, go to a doctor and get xrays and MRI.
Just so you know, I had some problems with my knee earlier were if I was sitting too long, I would get up and my knee would not be able to support me. I would get some serious pain and have to walk it off and it would go away. Trying to squat down was impossible. I read up on some stuff and thought for sure it was a meniscus tear so I saw a surgeon and just found out it was chrondomalacia. The good thing with that is no surgery unless it's pretty severe, most of the time you can do physical therapy and stregthen the knee. So really go see the doc and they will help you from there.
I bumped knees while playing soccer and didn't give it much importance when it just hurt a little. I was out for maybe 2 weeks because it was painful, then I was back playing basketball and soccer. Then, I used to lie down on my side, and bend my left to make a weak 4 formation and if I let the knee hang, it would hurt like the Dickens. (how DOES the Dickens hurt, anyway?) I would have to straighten the leg or just flip to the other side. If I was driving, and all of a sudden I wanted to bend the knee, it would send some pain back into my brain. I had to bring it back to a straight position. If I played basketball, it wouldn't hurt. Once I let the leg get cold, it would start hurting. It seemed, the orthopedist said, that I was putting more strain on the meniscus after I had partially torn the MCL, just like doboyz said, and this was causing a tear. The tear was so bad that my bones started grinding, and I was losing cartilage on the side where there was no more meniscus. The meniscus tear would get larger if I didn't stop it. Surgery or cadaver-to-living would be the only way I would save my leg, so I opted for surgery. If it was replacement with the cadaver tendon, I would not be able to play basketball anymore. If it was otherwise, I would have to not run or jump or do hard stuff with the knee in one year. I had endomiscectomy (cutting the meniscus and putting it together) in order to let the 25% tear in the MCL repair itself. The doctor also said that while in there, he smoothened some cartilage on the femur and on the platella and I was out of basketball and overall sports and running for 1 year and a half. It was all worth it, though. See an orthopedist FAST, man. DON'T WAIT. You are putting more strain on the meniscus and on the other tendons because you're missing a part that SHOULD BE THERE. SEE A DOCTOR.
My left knee had bothered me for a good, long time. I had been playing basketball 2-4 times a week since 1970-- a lot of it on concrete, too. In 1997, like a bolt of lightning striking, I could hardly put any weight on the leg. Then the dicomfort would vanish, then come again, then leave... seemingly for good. I even went to a sports medicine clinic. They could find nothing wrong structurally. I think we did X-rays; I know we didn't do an MRI. On September 15, 2003 I was playing full court at noon. I ran back on defense, planted my left foot and crumpled to the hardwood. My patella hd cracked in two and the bigger piece had been pulled up into my thigh; my patella tendon was detached. They had to join the two pieces of my patella back together with screws and wire and re-attach my patella tendon to the bone. I spent one month immobilized. Three months in a brace with first two and then one crutch. Three months in rehab.. and now I have some nerve damage in my left leg from the trauma. GO GET IT CHECKED OUT THOROUGHLY AND SAVE YOURSELF THE PAIN, THE HEARTACHE, AND THE TIME AND MONEY LOST WHEN RECOVERING FROM AN INJURY...
That sounds like that would suck, royally. I bet your leg looked funny afterwards...not that you thought about that. Anyways, I haven't really gotten any pain or anything out of it since I posted the thread, and I feel like I'm sort of overreacting after reading all the stories here. I mean, I don't think it's as bad as all the stories you guys have...
The guys on the court with me were huddled over me. Some of them couldn't or wouldn't look. Nobody threw up, though... Odd thing was that it didn't really hurt that much. I told these guys just to go over to the next court and finish their lunch time game, that I wasn't in pain, and that they couldn't really do anything for me. Plus I was tired of looking at their grimacing faces looming over me. Apparently my kneecap recoiled up into my thigh was a sight to behold! By then a couple of the facility staff were attending to me. I had somebody get my cell phone and I made a few calls. I had to lay under that basket for almost two hours until an ambulance came to cart me away. Then it was 4 hours in the hallway of the over-crowded ER and surgery at 8PM. Home by Noon the next day. Don't do it...
A lot of times that happens with ACL/MCL/etc. injuries. Whenever you tear something like that, a lot of the time it hurts for a second, and then quits. It happens because the nerve endings end up getting severed, and you basically can't feel the pain. I guess, a lot of times when people tear their ACLS, they want to try and go back in the game 30 minutes later, because it doesn't hurt anymore.
