What happened to my knee? What now?
March 30, 2016 10:06 AM Subscribe
I fell 2 1/2 months ago, badly hitting my shin, just below the knee. It left me unable to kneel or crawl on it, due to a very sore tender spot there, which can be felt when the knee is bent. Once she saw there was no fracture on an x-ray, my doctor (GP) was uninterested. By sheer bad luck, I fell again a fortnight ago and hit the same spot. What has happened? Why does it take so long to heal? Is it worth paying to go to a physiotherapist?
I expected to have a huge bruise from the initial fall in January, but there was no real bruise, only an area of numbness spreading into my calf and the extremely sore spot which gives no problems unless knelt on - but when knelt on, it really hurts - it's impossible to kneel/crawl. It was taking a very long time to heal which is why I went to my doctor. Then when I fell again, it feels like I undid what healing had been slowly taking place on the former injury and I am back to square one. I'd like to know what I've done for it to be so slow healing and whether a physio could do something useful, or do I need to go back to the doctor? What is this and how long does it take to heal?
I expected to have a huge bruise from the initial fall in January, but there was no real bruise, only an area of numbness spreading into my calf and the extremely sore spot which gives no problems unless knelt on - but when knelt on, it really hurts - it's impossible to kneel/crawl. It was taking a very long time to heal which is why I went to my doctor. Then when I fell again, it feels like I undid what healing had been slowly taking place on the former injury and I am back to square one. I'd like to know what I've done for it to be so slow healing and whether a physio could do something useful, or do I need to go back to the doctor? What is this and how long does it take to heal?
Best answer: I've had what doctor called a bone bruise (falling and whacking elbow just so, taking a hockey puck off an ankle or shin). Very similar symptoms to your description. I don't think mine was 6 months to heal, but definitely 2-3 months, and still was tender for some time there-after.
posted by k5.user at 10:49 AM on March 30, 2016
posted by k5.user at 10:49 AM on March 30, 2016
do I need to go back to the doctor?
When you've reinjured yourself and are in pain, going back to the doctor is a good idea.
Once she saw there was no fracture on an x-ray, my doctor (GP) was uninterested.
If this is true, the problem is your GP, not the injury. You're entitled to a GP who is interested enough to talk to you about your injury, and to recommend physiotherapy if this is indicated. But I assume your comment was hyperbole, and that your GP recommended you wait X months and see how it goes, not that she was "uninterested." If the latter, you should start the process of finding a new GP.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:07 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
When you've reinjured yourself and are in pain, going back to the doctor is a good idea.
Once she saw there was no fracture on an x-ray, my doctor (GP) was uninterested.
If this is true, the problem is your GP, not the injury. You're entitled to a GP who is interested enough to talk to you about your injury, and to recommend physiotherapy if this is indicated. But I assume your comment was hyperbole, and that your GP recommended you wait X months and see how it goes, not that she was "uninterested." If the latter, you should start the process of finding a new GP.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:07 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know the patella has its own critical structures that might complicate things, but I've also had a bone bruise on my shin (walked at a quick clip into a weird cast iron barrier in a dark parking lot) that hurt if I stomped too hard for 6 months, still hurt to poke for a year and a half, and probably took 8 years to lose the lump. (Years after that, my most irritating dog took to jumping up on the bed right there on my shin, and after about a dozen of those the lump came back and it was sore to the touch for another year. The lump never entirely went away.)
You can go back to the doctor and pointedly ask if there's anything you should be doing and if you need a referral to a physiotherapist. If you have access to one without a referral, you might look at seeing a sports medicine specialist or similar orthopedist instead.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:11 AM on March 30, 2016
You can go back to the doctor and pointedly ask if there's anything you should be doing and if you need a referral to a physiotherapist. If you have access to one without a referral, you might look at seeing a sports medicine specialist or similar orthopedist instead.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:11 AM on March 30, 2016
Same thing happened to me, at the same location, even. Same symptoms-- numbness, pain but only when knelt on. Didn't reinjure it, though. It lingered for quite a while, but I can report that ~6 months later it seems to be entirely gone.
posted by alexei at 11:11 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by alexei at 11:11 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
1) I slipped on tile in the rain and hit my leg on a step, at the top of the shin. It hurt like whoa. I wound up going to the hospital (this was in Taiwan) and there WAS a bruise, but it was just deep and thick and not visible to me, not superficial like they usually are. (As you can tell, I'm not a doctor.) It was probably 3x3 inches or bigger. I kept it wrapped up for a while; distributed pressure seemed sort of comforting. And I took pain relievers. It took a long time to fully heal, and in the meantime, if anything hit me there it was extremely painful. Kneeling was out of the question. If your injury is similar to mine, I don't think a physiotherapist would be much help (IME they deal with joints, muscles, and tendons, not bruising).
2) If your GP doesn't take your concerns seriously and is only interested in obvious emergencies, I would get a new GP.
posted by wintersweet at 11:13 AM on March 30, 2016
2) If your GP doesn't take your concerns seriously and is only interested in obvious emergencies, I would get a new GP.
posted by wintersweet at 11:13 AM on March 30, 2016
I've had what doctor called a bone bruise (falling and whacking elbow just so, taking a hockey puck off an ankle or shin). Very similar symptoms to your description. I don't think mine was 6 months to heal, but definitely 2-3 months, and still was tender for some time there-after.
Same. I actually had one in my knee that put me in a brace for 2 months (for support, walking with crutches) and then walking with a cane for another 2 months after that (at least. it was like 15yrs ago so memory is a bit fuzzy on the particulars).
The doctors were basically like "yup, it's a bone bruise, it'll take a long-ass time to heal. nothing you can do about it."
posted by entropone at 11:18 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Same. I actually had one in my knee that put me in a brace for 2 months (for support, walking with crutches) and then walking with a cane for another 2 months after that (at least. it was like 15yrs ago so memory is a bit fuzzy on the particulars).
The doctors were basically like "yup, it's a bone bruise, it'll take a long-ass time to heal. nothing you can do about it."
posted by entropone at 11:18 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Great, I'm in the "did stupid things to my knees recently" club! Bone bruise, took months to start feeling anything close to normal again, but it's been about 6 months and now they feel mostly fine. Happened in September and by Christmas I was still seriously regretting it when I got down on my knees to help pick up wrapping paper, but now... I can still sort of feel it's there if I prod the area, but I'm no longer in agony if I bump my knees on something. I was worried for awhile that it was never going to improve, but it really has.
posted by Sequence at 11:18 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Sequence at 11:18 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
+1 for bone bruise - I did mine by falling off my bike onto my knee. I did see a physio and they said there wasn't much specific treatment and it would just take time to heal. Apart from the weird combination of numb feeling + pain if knelt on, I was able to use the knee pretty much as normal.
posted by crocomancer at 11:35 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by crocomancer at 11:35 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here is what I found out. First, I am in my 80s and my house has two flights of stairs. My leg gave out and i tumbled to the stairs. No hurt or injury. But I worried about cause and at local gym did some stuff to try to strengthen legs, thighs, etc. Then, feeling chipper, decided to go the nearbye track and walk around it once. It was winter, no one around. Leg gave out. Fell three times trying to get up and finally on hands and knees got help. Had broken my ankle. Got that fixed but then told my doctor that my knee felt funny. He said arthritis. i said no. he said the only true way to tell was MRI. Got one. I was right and he did knee op. Now I don't know if my knee caused by falll and ankle issue or the fall caused the knee problem. My point: only MRI in many instances can really tell what is going on.
posted by Postroad at 11:42 AM on March 30, 2016
posted by Postroad at 11:42 AM on March 30, 2016
Best answer: Hah. I once kicked the metal corner of a pastered wall by accident during a martial arts session. That patch on my shin was sensitive to pressure for *years* afterwards.
20 years on, it’s just a small scar though.
posted by pharm at 12:15 PM on March 30, 2016
20 years on, it’s just a small scar though.
posted by pharm at 12:15 PM on March 30, 2016
I fell on a sidewalk and got a very similar bone bruise on my upper shin. It's been about 6 months (I had to check and see what date The Martian came out because I injured it coming back from the movie) and I can kneel on it without pain (still slight discomfort) but the area a few inches around it is still numb. I didn't see the doc because I figured it was just a whack on the knee, but it's sure taking a lot longer to heal than this kind of thing did when I was young (I'm 50 now).
posted by matildaben at 1:23 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by matildaben at 1:23 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not a doctor, but that sounds like it could be a bone bruise -- when you get hit not hard enough to cause a fracture, but just enough to bruise the bone. It might be worth doing some research, but I think with bone bruises you just have to wait it out. Again, not a doctor nor an expert.
posted by AppleTurnover at 3:18 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by AppleTurnover at 3:18 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've never broken a bone, but i've gotten too many of these to count. Shins, below the knee, tailbone, forearm... ugh. Yes, it basically takes an entire season(like i'd do it in mid spring, and it would be halloween by the time it was completely normal)~ to fully and completely go away. Yes, it does eventually go away.
Yes, i would go try and find a doctor who wasn't a dismissive butthead about it even though that sounds exactly like what i experienced.
posted by emptythought at 3:27 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yes, i would go try and find a doctor who wasn't a dismissive butthead about it even though that sounds exactly like what i experienced.
posted by emptythought at 3:27 PM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks very much. No, it's not hyperbole. Old GP would have told me immediately what it was and explained the anatomy. New GP ordered an x-ray, it came back negative for a fracture and then when I was back a few weeks later for something different and I mentioned to her that there was still an unresolved problem, she didn't explain and didn't seem interested. That's why I was wondering if there was some other professional I could see. But it sounds like a bone bruise is a thing, and that it just takes ages to heal. I wish she'd explained that to me. An explanation would have made me happy.
posted by Flitcraft at 6:36 PM on March 30, 2016
posted by Flitcraft at 6:36 PM on March 30, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
A doctor explained to me that a hard impact like that can actually cause the osteocytes (bone building cells) in the area to die and this significantly slows healing. No idea if that's true, but at least in my case there was nothing that doctors could do to speed the healing. I checked the worst of these spots again just now - the one in question happened in 2009 and it still hurts a bit if I press on it firmly.. I can actually still feel the divot from the impact where the fat cells surrounding the bone died.
I can't imagine what a physiotherapist could do if it's truly the bone impacted and not your knee joint.. you just have to be patient and let it heal.
posted by zug at 10:38 AM on March 30, 2016