What did I do to myself ?
June 9, 2011 1:30 PM Subscribe
What did I do to my lower leg last night? Denial about a potentially torn knee ligament and long recovery time have me wondering (hoping) it's not that serious. More inside.
Last night, during a spirited doubles match, I sprinted up to the net and as I pushed off, I felt an *extremely* sharp twinge and movement in my lower left leg .. kind of the upper part of my calf. I don't remember hearing any sounds. I fell and had limited movement in my leg. I couldn’t bend it and we wrapped my knee with ice and off to the ER we went.
X-rays showed there was no fracture and the most the rapid care Doc said was it is a “significant soft tissue injury”. He also kept saying I “twisted my knee”, but I wasn’t pivoting, I was pushing off. He gave me an immobilizer and some crutches and he said he would arrange a follow up with an orthopedist.
Right now, I feel pain when I try to point my foot toward my body. The pain feels centralized behind my knee and once in a while .. while I’m trying to move around, I will feel a very sharp pain, twinging pain there. I can put a little weight on it, and trying to bend it is very painful.
I know YANMY(Internet)D. I’ve never been injured this way before, so I’m just looking for some thoughts on what it might be. I’m also terrible around doctors. I’ve read through all of the knee threads, but a lot of those are about chronic pain or folks already know what happened.
My question is .. what did I do? Does it sound like a tear or sprain or strain? ACL, PCL, LCL ? I don’t really know the difference between any of those. Hamstring? And will I ever play tennis again ??
Last night, during a spirited doubles match, I sprinted up to the net and as I pushed off, I felt an *extremely* sharp twinge and movement in my lower left leg .. kind of the upper part of my calf. I don't remember hearing any sounds. I fell and had limited movement in my leg. I couldn’t bend it and we wrapped my knee with ice and off to the ER we went.
X-rays showed there was no fracture and the most the rapid care Doc said was it is a “significant soft tissue injury”. He also kept saying I “twisted my knee”, but I wasn’t pivoting, I was pushing off. He gave me an immobilizer and some crutches and he said he would arrange a follow up with an orthopedist.
Right now, I feel pain when I try to point my foot toward my body. The pain feels centralized behind my knee and once in a while .. while I’m trying to move around, I will feel a very sharp pain, twinging pain there. I can put a little weight on it, and trying to bend it is very painful.
I know YANMY(Internet)D. I’ve never been injured this way before, so I’m just looking for some thoughts on what it might be. I’m also terrible around doctors. I’ve read through all of the knee threads, but a lot of those are about chronic pain or folks already know what happened.
My question is .. what did I do? Does it sound like a tear or sprain or strain? ACL, PCL, LCL ? I don’t really know the difference between any of those. Hamstring? And will I ever play tennis again ??
I went through a lengthy process of figuring out why I was having pain in my hip and leg. Had X-rays, bone scans, several doctor's visits, and about the most the doctor said was "well, sucks to be you." He referred me to physical therapy, and within an hour the therapist told me what I had and what we needed to do. In English.
So: I don't know what you have, but since you've ruled out a fracture, go to a sports medicine clinic.
posted by desjardins at 2:02 PM on June 9, 2011
So: I don't know what you have, but since you've ruled out a fracture, go to a sports medicine clinic.
posted by desjardins at 2:02 PM on June 9, 2011
This is basically impossible to diagnose from what you've said. However, don't eff around with knees. See the orthopedist.
- (Somebody just toward the end of recovery from an ACL tear last fall)
posted by General Malaise at 2:03 PM on June 9, 2011
- (Somebody just toward the end of recovery from an ACL tear last fall)
posted by General Malaise at 2:03 PM on June 9, 2011
Oh, I missed that you already have a follow up with an orthopedist. Well, do that first.
And I can commiserate - it's perfectly natural to think "OMG will I ever do $activity again!" In all probability, yes, you will. Take it easy. Don't give into the temptation to see if it hurts if you do that. If it hurts when you do something, don't do that.
posted by desjardins at 2:05 PM on June 9, 2011
And I can commiserate - it's perfectly natural to think "OMG will I ever do $activity again!" In all probability, yes, you will. Take it easy. Don't give into the temptation to see if it hurts if you do that. If it hurts when you do something, don't do that.
posted by desjardins at 2:05 PM on June 9, 2011
No idea what happened to you; it sounds like maybe a meniscus and/or ACL tear but then I would say that, because that's the injury I had with the same pain (plus more!) You're going to need an ortho consult and possibly an MRI to find out. Regardless, yes - you will play tennis again. Even with a total replacement, mine's rock solid and I'd happily go climb Everest with it if I was a mountain climbing sort of person. Which I totally am not.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by DarlingBri at 2:06 PM on June 9, 2011
I tore both my ACLs (exactly a year apart! semifinal field hockey games for the... loss!) and the first time felt something like what you described with the twinge and then falling. I describe it as feeling like a rubber band snapping. I am sorta paranoid about it happening again, and have experienced many other knee sorenesses, but the only times I actually tore an ACL involved that snapping feeling.
I absolutely recommend going to the follow- up doctor's visit. My team's trainer didn't believe I had torn my ACL the second time round but the doctor was able to accurately diagnose it. I believe there was an MRI but really he was able to tell just by looking.
As for whether you will play tennis again, after my first injury I went back to the full sports I did before; after the second, which didn't heal quite as well, I never restored my full athletic ability but I am still able to play tennis.
posted by mlle valentine at 3:51 PM on June 9, 2011
I absolutely recommend going to the follow- up doctor's visit. My team's trainer didn't believe I had torn my ACL the second time round but the doctor was able to accurately diagnose it. I believe there was an MRI but really he was able to tell just by looking.
As for whether you will play tennis again, after my first injury I went back to the full sports I did before; after the second, which didn't heal quite as well, I never restored my full athletic ability but I am still able to play tennis.
posted by mlle valentine at 3:51 PM on June 9, 2011
Pain in the center-back of your knee is probably a PCL tear. It can happen when hyper-extending the knee or when falling on a bent knee. I tore mine about 6 weeks ago. Another likely candidate, if the pain is more in front, is an ACL tear.
You can do a quick diagnostic PCL tear test. Sit in a chair and put both feet on the ground at a 45ish degree angle, feet flat on the floor. Have a friend push firmly just below each of your knees, at the top of the tibia. This shouldn't hurt. If the injured leg moves further back than the non-injured leg, it's very likely a PCL tear.
posted by zug at 6:21 PM on June 9, 2011
You can do a quick diagnostic PCL tear test. Sit in a chair and put both feet on the ground at a 45ish degree angle, feet flat on the floor. Have a friend push firmly just below each of your knees, at the top of the tibia. This shouldn't hurt. If the injured leg moves further back than the non-injured leg, it's very likely a PCL tear.
posted by zug at 6:21 PM on June 9, 2011
Here is a page with a video describing the procedure. The test I mentioned is the "posterior drawer test".
posted by zug at 6:25 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by zug at 6:25 PM on June 9, 2011
Yeah, if the doc is just oddly looking at it and not doing any tests as zug mentioned than either you need a second opinion or get someone to do an MRI. Also, try getting in with a sports doc, they see tons of stuff like this and an ER doctor may or may not have the kinesic experience to know what's up.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:12 PM on June 9, 2011
posted by P.o.B. at 11:12 PM on June 9, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks all .. I've got a follow up with my regular sports doc on Monday. We'll see how it goes.
posted by duckus at 9:31 AM on June 11, 2011
posted by duckus at 9:31 AM on June 11, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm not a doctor so I'm not going to speculate on what happened to you but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to play tennis again though you may need some physical therapy for a while first. I used to work at a tennis club and we had members with all sorts of scarred up knees from various injuries and surgeries.
posted by ghharr at 1:50 PM on June 9, 2011