I may need knee surgery, so who's had it?

[FullAuto]

Friday the 13th, I hyperextended my leg around a guy's rib cage in the 1st half of a soccer game. It was my first game back from breaking my hand in a game 5 weeks earlier. I knew it was going to be bad when it happened. I stayed off it all weekend but it continued to swell over the next couple of days. Monday, I went to the doctor and nothing showed on an x-ray. Doctor said if it's a bad sprain, it may take 4-6 weeks to heal and let's not bother with an MRI yet. He said to stay off it and when the swelling goes down, if it doesn't show improvement over the next week, then we can do an MRI. I used my crutches from a previous injury for about 5 days until I could hobble to the bathroom without them. This was my wife's doctor I went to because they have an x-ray machine in office because my doctor will send me to the hospital for an x-ray.

So fast forward to last week (the 2nd week after the injury) and I still can't put weight on it for very long at all. Like I can only stand maybe 20 minutes even putting most of my weight on my good leg. Walking is difficult. I also can't straighten my leg all the way. It won't lock out. And I can bend it just past 90* so range of motion is limited. I'm having a lot of pain on the inside of my knee. It feels unstable and I'm wearing a hinged knee brace when I get out of my recliner (that I sleep in). I hadn't left the house except maybe 3x in 2 weeks because I can't be up long. I go to my doctor to have an MRI ordered. Appointment was Friday afternoon.

I tell the MRI lady all my issues, what happened and I have limited range of motion with a lot of pain on the inside and stability issues. I say I think it's an MCL issue. I don't believe it's torn all the way because I can hobble around better than I would expect. I'm basically here because I have been working from my computer in my recliner when I'm supposed to be in the field. I plan on going out in the field on Monday, I just want confirmation nothing is wrong, it's a bad sprain and it's okay to walk it off. She says my range of motion issues sound like a meniscus tear but the sharp pains on the inside may be MCL.

After the scan she comes in and says she wants to tell me something. She's very clear that she's not qualified to tell me anything but since it's the weekend and I said I was attempting to hobble around on it, she wanted to give me some advice. She told me to stay off of it and not put any weight on it. She said my ACL, MCL, LCL and some other stuff look great. She said my meniscus may be torn, it appears that is has, but the radiologist has to look at it. That may or may not be on the report Monday at my doctor's office. But that it would make sense give my range of motion issues.

Then she tells me at a minimum, it's very clear that my leg is broken. WTF???? My tibia is broken from the top of the bone right wear the ACL attaches diagonally to the front/inside; anterior tibia fracture. That's why the inside hurts. She's surprised I'm walking as good as I am (which is still pretty bad).

I call my physical therapist from my shoulder surgery on the way home. She said given the range of motion issues, it likely is a meniscus tear and that won't just fix itself. I'll likely need surgery. Of course, nothing is official yet as I won't find anything out until tomorrow. So what am I in for? When can I (will I ever) play soccer again? I'm 36.

TLDR: I'm an idiot. My leg is broken. I probably need knee surgery.

 

[Biggsly]

I had the meniscus and lcl repaired about a year ago. Was not too bad. Surgery on Thursday and I went back to work on Monday. I was in a lot of pain Monday, but by the end of the week, it was not too bad. I do wish that I could have took a full week off.

 

[FullAuto]

I had the meniscus and lcl repaired about a year ago. Was not too bad. Surgery on Thursday and I went back to work on Monday. I was in a lot of pain Monday, but by the end of the week, it was not too bad. I do wish that I could have took a full week off.

How was it before the surgery? How did it happen?

 

[Biggsly]

How was it before the surgery? How did it happen?

I slipped and fell in the rain. It hurt like hell to step down on it. I did go with it too long, before I got it fixed. It is better now. It will still swell up sometimes. It is swelled right now, because I worked legs this morning at the gym. It is a lot better then it was.

 

[tRidiot]

She's probably talking about a tibial plateau fracture, which can be where a piece of the bone is pulled off and can be indicative of an ACL tear.

Lots of people walk around every day of their lives with torn menisci, and even a lot with old ACL tears, neither of which heal on their own, if the ACL tear is complete. Menisci never heal on their own. It's a quality of life issue and depends on if you're going to need it fixed. If you're that active, likely so. If you're not too active, then possibly not.

Wait for the radiologist's read on it, and go see a good orthopedic surgeon with the results. Get a disc to take with you so the Ortho guy can look at it himself, as well.

 

[spazzwarr]

Just my 2 cents. I had an ACL tear practicing Akido. I was a runner and went to an Ortho Dr. in OKC that did work on a lot of OU athletes. He convinced me to op out of surgery if I could keep the supporting leg muscles strong enough. Kept it in a soft cast for a few weeks and concentrated on building up the supporting muscles. Cut my running down to 10 & 15K and have had no problems. Had Menicus, MCL and Co-lateral ligament repair on my other leg (football) and it has never been as strong and stable as before the injury.

 

[Mr.Glock]

Buddy, you might should think about slowing down a bit on the sports at 36, your not 20 anymore. I have had four shoulder Rotator Cups, both knees, both ankles, one hip, two back, one neck, both wrists, pins in both wrists and one thumb. That is just the surgeries from sports. I cannot count how many bones I have broke as well. I am 52 years old right now and I am paying for it, every morning I wake up. They are wanting to do my left shoulder a third time, and they want to put a new hip in. I am staving it off as long as I can. I LOVED sports, boxed on team for years, football, wrestled, baseball, raced off road and I am 50/50 now on thinking I wished I had only done about half of the sports I did, maybe I would be about 50% better now, maybe I would feel 50% better now. LOL!


Hope they go in there and only find a tear and such, and get you back fast. But seriously, might want to think about some easier hobbies on your body! Wished I had!!! Wish you the best on your surgery! Do what they tell you to do.


Oklahoma Center for Athletes has done all my work. I highly recommend them.

 

[TheLastDaze]

what tridiot said.........

shop around for a good ortho in your area, preferably someone who primarily works on athletes...

I had arthroscopic surgery last december from an accident that happened oct. '12, I walked/hobbled and simply suffered thru the good and bad days for around 14 months before having it done.. The surgery was suppose to be to pull an ACL from a cadaver and replace as my ACL was severed completely and the meniscus and everything else for that matter in shreds..... turns out my knee is completely shot, they can't really see everything until they go in and get the full scope of things.....

ACL replacement never happened and I'm bone to bone now, so next step is a complete knee replacement.....

My other knee has meniscal tears and Doc said its border line and up to me about the surgery, so I'm debating a deburing/cleanup surg on that one....

bottom line dude is stay off your leg, period.... if they show a fracture I may just need braced for couple weeks without surgery...

again, get a GOOD orthopedic surgeon's final word.......

 

[piston10]

I have torn my meniscus 8 times. Two surgeries on the left and 5 on the right knee, the right is torn again and also needs to be replaced at this point. I have just been putting off surgery again. I will have the torn meniscus removed soon, but will wait on the replacement a few more years. I'm 38 and had my first surgery when I was 15. They are not bad, for me just more a pain in the ass because I have had so many and don't have much left. I did not help when my son drove his electric ford raptor into the side on my bad leg yesterday.

 

[FullAuto]

She's probably talking about a tibial plateau fracture, which can be where a piece of the bone is pulled off and can be indicative of an ACL tear.

Lots of people walk around every day of their lives with torn menisci, and even a lot with old ACL tears, neither of which heal on their own, if the ACL tear is complete. Menisci never heal on their own. It's a quality of life issue and depends on if you're going to need it fixed. If you're that active, likely so. If you're not too active, then possibly not.

Wait for the radiologist's read on it, and go see a good orthopedic surgeon with the results. Get a disc to take with you so the Ortho guy can look at it himself, as well.

She gave me the disk. My PT also told me I was going to have to see an ortho so they can decide what to do.

That may have been what she met on the break. She took me into the room to show my on her computer screen before she left. She said the break is right where the ACL attaches. She really just wanted me to know it wasn't a sprain like I thought and at the minimum, I have problems and I shouldn't be trying to walk it off.