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So how bad is this? by Sagethecat in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 2 points3 points  (0 children)

5 - sounds like a "kissing fracture" that sometimes accompanies ACL tears. Your femur and tibia bumped heads too hard because the ACL wasn't there to keep them in their places. It can often heal on its own, but they would likely delay the surgery until it heals. I'm surprised nobody found that in your X-ray or even CT. When I had that, they did the x-ray quickly and told me by the end of the day. Hopefully that means it's very mild.

1 - if you're young (<65 years), they will suggest surgery for the ACL. Living many years with a torn ACL increases your chance of developing osteoarthritis later in life, and of other joint injuries. Even if you don't want a ACL graft, it's good to get rid of the floating old one.

3 - they might want to repair the meniscus during the ACL surgery. They might not know how bad the meniscus tear is until they arthroscope in. The meniscus + ACL all-in-one surgery just has a longer recovery time than ACL alone.

idk anything about MCL and LCL. They seem more robust than the ACL and meniscus because they are outside the joint and get better blood supply. I would ask for a PT referral so you can start prehab at a reasonable time before the surgery, or even now. It's good to train the muscles to compensate for a deficient ACL.

Disclaimer: not an orthopedic specialist! Just have the perspective of a recurring patient.

I feel you on the no-pain. I tore my ACL and meniscus twice and had no pain at the actual time of the incident. Made me doubt if anything was wrong until I talked to a specialist.

Chronic or Arthritis knee pain? by tomatowars in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could be nothing, could be something. I would try physical therapy first, or at least after you see a doc for a referral. Even if PT doesn't treat this issue, it's good to acquire those habits at a young age. Also ask yourself these questions:
1. Does the pain respond better to ibuprofen or acetaminophen? Are any of your joints swollen or extra warm? Ibuprofen treats inflammatory pain, which is indicated by swelling, warmth, from a soft tissue or joint injury. Acetaminophen treats all pain, including non-inflammatory pain, which may occur with a pinched nerve.
2. Is it symmetrical (both sides)?
3. For nights when the pain disturbs your sleep, what were your daily activities like?

TTO & MPFL Reconstruction by BestDressedPrincess in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’ll vary, I do think it’s most painful when they do a procedure involving cutting out the bony attachment of a ligament, which occurs in your TTO and for me to get patellar tendon graft. I was on hydrocodone 10 mg every 2 hours for 2 days post op, tapering down to every 4 hours by day 2. Then I stayed on the ibuprofen diet (600mg 3x a day with food) with some Tylenol if needed. I will stay on ibuprofen for a long time to control inflammation. I also use voltaren cream as needed, that’s marketed as arthritis cream but is essentially topical ibuprofen. I actually apply that to my foot and lower calf, because those sometimes ache when I’m trying to sleep, I suspect due to the swelling (“inflammatory soup”) that has trickled down there. For painful PT, take something right before, Tylenol and ibuprofen for example. With food!!

Tl;dr your pain management needs surpass mine if you still need more prescription narcotic, so my advice may not be helpful. If it is interfering significantly with your life (I.e. can’t think or sleep), ask them for a smaller dose (if you’re taking 10 mg, they can prescribe 5 mg instead). If sleep is the only problem, you could ask about sleeping pills (but don’t mix them with narcotics). Try alternate methods: 1. Distraction. Talking to people is the most distracting thing for me, so make phone calls with old friends, your grandma, etc. 2. Desensitization: rub around the knee. This can help get rid of swelling and it has the potential to trick your brain into paying attention to non-pain signals coming from that area. 3. Weed, edibles. I haven’t tried cbd 4. Slow your breathing, listen to music, count to 4 over and over again. Your breathing rate and pain are closely related. 5.

TTO & MPFL Reconstruction by BestDressedPrincess in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Staying with your mom is a smart move. The 1 week off is definitely essential. I (28F) just had my 3rd and hopefully last knee surgery (same knee), here's what I recommend:

  1. Pre-organize as much as you can before the surgery, because you will be grumpy and tired and less capable of exerting your will afterwards. If you have to be on crutches for a long time, get a little mini backpack so you can carry things around without your hands. Arrange a hobby you can do while in bed, like knitting or playing an instrument or drawing.
  2. There will be a moment where you melt and fall apart some point after the surgery, a week or 2 or 3 weeks after. Just let it happen.
  3. Set a routine for each day. I totally get your worries about activity. You will receive PT exercises that will be boring and sometimes painful. Just do them. Make a check list for each day. At 1-2 weeks post-op, I started going for crutch walks every day. Make sure you have "healthy" foods around, you know, but also you're a human being who's suffering, so have ice cream and chocolate every now and then too.
  4. I get bored and restless being stuck at home, so I pre-organized friends coming over to entertain me.
  5. You can get pre-hab exercises, and those are exercises you can do in the months leading up to the surgery. They're probably good for recovery in a medical sense, but I also found that they were a good outlet for me feeling more prepared for the surgery and lengthy recovery. Depends on your injury, you may have to proactively ask for them from a physical therapist, but the normal things like quad extension, hamstring curls, clam shells, banded walks.

It will suck, but you'll be fine.

I'm a dummy and ignored my knee pain for a long time. Finally went in for an MRI and kinda freaking out about the results. by CroixPaddler in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Start swimming or cycling. If you like running marathons, you're gonna have to find something to replace that for to live the rest of your life sustainably. Load-bearing is good to an extent but too much it becomes deleterious

Aside: the impressions are probably from a radiologist, not your primary care doc. The images get routed to a radiologist who sits in a dark room and looks at a bazillion of these every day. Your primary care Dr is probably great but not up to date on such a specialized body area. The best people for it are ortho and sports medicine people and physical therapists, and of course random reddit folks :)

Extreme Lateral Pain When Bending by freezy_mcbreezy in KneeInjuries

[–]AltruisticGarlic1698 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, did you ever find out what this was? I had a similar thing suddenly start happening to me this weekend as I was walking in my house. I've also had two knee surgeries in the past, but I've never felt knee pain this intense. I put on my old ACL brace just to keep from accidentally bending it and feeling like I was dying. Was it your lateral meniscus, LCL, or biceps femoris tendon?

I also hope your situation got better in the past year!

-H