I say, I believe I have broken myself...

[Gordon Nore]

Bill,

Go to your doctor. Listen to what she says. Take care of the injury and dial back on training, limiting yourself to other things you can do safely.

The idea is to live to train another day. I learned that a long time ago, and at almost 49 I've not had to significantly disrupt my training over an injury.

 

[shesulsa]

I tore my ACL and what you're describing sounds an awful lot like a ligament injury.

So I have to echo what everyone else said and say, see your doctor as soon as possible, hold off on training until you can establish what the injury *is* exactly - we don't want you getting a more serious injury than you may already have.

Expect to get xrays and an MRI at least. If surgery is required, I *highly* recommend finding a specialist who will work with you on the type of reconstruction and recovery plan that will afford you a repair that will as closely resemble your original joint as possible and be willing to sacrifice time and even some training for a quality recovery and best chance in future training.

My ACL reconstruction was *awesome* and I have full range of motion - it's better than the other knee, now. I took 15 months to recover it - willingly.

Hopefully, you only have a strain and need a little ice and rest.

Please make that appointment, rest yourself, and keep us posted!

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I am resting, have ice on it, and have been elevating it all night. It feels better already. Of course, I also have a semi-large quantity of Jack Daniels in me. Shame to let all that ice go to waste.

I'll keep you all posted. At the moment, it only hurts when I lock it up (hyperextension). Otherwise, it feels better.

 

[Kacey]

Go see a doctor. It could be nothing - but if it's not, the longer you wait, the more complex, long-term - and quite likely, the more expensive - any needed treatment are likely to become.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

FYI, folks. I seem to be feeling much better this morning. Don't even have a hangover!

Seriously, my knee is not swollen or discolored, and it has been just under 2 days now. I can stand on the leg much better than I could yesterday, and even hyperextend (lock) it with only a modicum of discomfort - yesterday it hurt quite a bit. Huge improvement.

I will continue to monitor. For those who recommended going straight to the ER, I appreciate the advice and it may yet turn out I should have, but I am trying to be responsible here. I could just be whining over a very minor injury. We'll see. If it shows any signs of not continuing to improve, swells up, changes color, etc, I'm off to the Urgent Care nearest me.

 

[Flea]

Shame to let all that ice go to waste.

I like you, Bill. :drinkbeer :lol:

 

[jks9199]

FYI, folks. I seem to be feeling much better this morning. Don't even have a hangover!

Seriously, my knee is not swollen or discolored, and it has been just under 2 days now. I can stand on the leg much better than I could yesterday, and even hyperextend (lock) it with only a modicum of discomfort - yesterday it hurt quite a bit. Huge improvement.

I will continue to monitor. For those who recommended going straight to the ER, I appreciate the advice and it may yet turn out I should have, but I am trying to be responsible here. I could just be whining over a very minor injury. We'll see. If it shows any signs of not continuing to improve, swells up, changes color, etc, I'm off to the Urgent Care nearest me.

You had significant trouble walking on it.

That's NOT minor. It may heal on it's own or it may not; until you get a doctor's evaluation of the actual injury, not written descriptions on line - you don't know. You're responsible for getting to and from work; is your knee a reasonably important part of that?

 

[Kacey]

You had significant trouble walking on it.

That's NOT minor. It may heal on it's own or it may not; until you get a doctor's evaluation of the actual injury, not written descriptions on line - you don't know. You're responsible for getting to and from work; is your knee a reasonably important part of that?

I have to agree. Some years ago, I landed badly from a jump and sprained my knee. I iced it, elevated it, and stayed off it as much as possible until I get could to my doctor - which, since I injured it on Saturday and it wasn't life-threatening, wasn't until Tuesday afternoon. She examined it, and told me she thought it was a sprain, but just to be sure, she sent me to an orthopedist specializing in sports injuries. When all was done, it turned out it was a bad sprain - but all the annoyance, cost, and inconvenience was worth it when I knew, for certain, that nothing was torn, especially after a friend of mine suffered a similar injury, didn't get it attended to, and then stood up one day and his leg buckled. It turned out he'd partially ripped his ACL in the original injury, and it had slowly finished tearing over the next several weeks, leading him to need much more serious surgery to repair it than he would have had he gone to see a doctor immediately.

It feel better - that's great! It's probably nothing. But in a similar situation, I went to a doctor - and it was worth it to me.

 

[shesulsa]

Yes, some injuries will not cause a great deal of swelling or even discomfort - mine didn't. It hurt at the moment, felt sloppy and was hard to walk on ... but once I found out I had the torn ligament, the doctor told me if I had continued to train even though I felt better, the damage to my knee could have become MUCH more significant.

I still say you should see a doctor before returning to training. ER not so much, but DO see a sports knee doctor asap.

 

[Makalakumu]

Usually, I give my injuries the three day rule. That is, if it hurts after three days, I go in. Knees and back are the exception. After hurting both and thankfully not having to have surgery on the former, I'm a convert. Take that from a guy who ignored a cracked a bone in his forearm and popped in two dislocated fingers in a sparring match to continue a tournament. I don't really mess around with anything anymore. I'd like to keep my 32 as long as possible.

 

[Xue Sheng]

When I was younger

Broke my ankle once...... it hurt for a day or so but I wrapped it and continued to walk around on it not knowing exactly what I did.

A few years later I broke my ankle and ended up in the ER and that is when I found out I broke it before.

Hurt my knees more times than I can count and decided to take care of things in my usual manor which was keep on going. Eventually it all caught up with me and I ended up in PT. Which likely could have been avoided had I gone to see a Doc the first or even the 15th time.

I could go on with a rather long list of injuries but I will not. I will say what you have been told about going to see a Doc is good advice but should you choose to ignore it and go with what appears to be working at the moment that is of course up to you.

But maybe what you are doing is exactly what a Doc would tell you to do and all will be fine eventually and if that is the case I recommend taking some time off from things like MA. However if this is a more serious injury that may require more than what you are doing then the next time you injure yourself...and there will be a next time...it will likely be much worse and it all may have been avoidable had you taken the proper action this time.

It is however your call and I hope what ever you decide works

 

[Rich Parsons]

Last night, while attempting to perform a 'flying side kick' in the dojo, I managed the 'flying' part (kind of), but managed to land rather heavily on my right leg, which promptly collapsed. I ended up on my posterior, which had everyone laughing - including myself, until I tried to rise and discovered that my right leg would not bear my weight. I had to be helped up.

I am significantly overweight and out-of-shape, but I generally have very strong legs.

I believe I have injured my knee, but I am not sure how serious it is.

I am not in pain. The knee has full range of motion. It is not swollen.

But, I must walk carefully. If I twist or turn while standing, putting more weight on it that on the other, it instantly hurts and then tries to fold up.

Since I am not in pain and it is not swollen, I am considering just giving it a couple days and see how things go. I looked online under 'knee injuries' and the only 'symptom' I seem to have is 'will not bear weight'. So I'm not sure that I need to rush off to the emergency room.

This happened last night, I got a good night's sleep, and I feel fine this morning, with the exception I mentioned.

Any thoughts?

Bill,

I have seen what you described turn out to be a broken leg near the joint. As I am not a doctor I cannot tell you what to do, only give you experience.

I myself had a knee injury during a ski trip. Later under certain conditions (* 270 degree spins on just that leg *) it became weak and wobbled and would not support my weight. Everything else worked just fine. I went to the doctor and they told me I had healed from the ski trip from years before, but I had not built back my muscles for interior and exterior quads. The exterior gets worked with every day walking and such. The interior needs swimming and or certain types of bicycle work out, and also the negative portion for weights in physical training. I had to first just the leg by its self, hold it out for as long as I could. (* It was healed before I began and feeling fine and supporting weight again *) After Holding it out for 30 seconds or so, I would then as slow as possible lower it with the muscles working. This works the interior quads. After a period of time (* not sure as this was 15+ years ago *) I moved up to a 1/2 pound ankle weight. This was painful, and I thought it would be easy and quick. After a while I could do a one pound weight.

But to key to all of this, was that a Doctor prescribed the physical therapy. The techniques today I am sure are much better, so I would investigate the Doctor and therapy route.


Good Luck

 

[Live True]

I can't speak with all the experience of some here, but the point I was making in my original post is that you should go to the doctor because
a) it could be somethign serious and the sooner you find out the better your chances for full recovery
b) if it's not something serious (like mine) then you gain relief in knowing what it is and what needs to be done to feel better.

besides some time and money (I know, not small these days, but let's gain some perspective) you have little to lose and a lot to gain.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Well, I'm still in 'wait and see' mode at the moment. I went to dojo last night, and somebody put a bug in my sensei's ear, because he would not let me work out hard, even though the knee was feeling considerably better. I did manage to make it hurt again just a little bit, so I'm babying it today. It has gotten a lot better since last Thursday night - I can walk normally, no pain, full range of motion, and I discovered a sore spot about 2 1/2 inches down and to the right of my right kneecap, which I suspect is a strained tendon.

I will continue to baby it and see how it goes. Thanks for the tips and concern, everyone.

 

[Nomad]

Hi Bill,

See a doctor. A leg suddenly collapsing like that screams to me of possible ligament injury. Having been down this road, you need to know that a torn ligament does not heal, and if untreated almost always leads to further injury down the road. I worked out on mine after tearing the ACL for almost 8 months after the acute symptoms went away before it collapsed again (this time during a tournament) and this time tore the meniscus as well (couldn't mistake that one, as my knee was ~3 times it's normal size by the next morning).

See an orthopedic specialist; they can normally tell by a functional test whether or not the ligaments are torn, and will likely schedule an MRI to confirm. My Family Medicine doctor initially misdiagnosed the knee injury; it wasn't until after the second time when they took the MRI and saw the remains of the ligament all curled up in a way that told them it had been ruptured some time before that I knew the extent of the injury.

If in doubt, demand the MRI. It's the only way (short of exploratory surgery, which I'm not really a fan of) to get a look inside and see what's going on.

Good luck!