AndrewS & internet doctors

[Toby]

Hey all,

Searching for a diagnosis. In Feb I was ski touring a bunch. I've only got a little bit more endurance than Iron, and it's sea level endurance so I struggled some days. One day after about 6hrs hiking, I got to the top of a ridge pretty fatigued. I was just walking in ski boots around getting ready for the descent, and I kind of stepped funny on my heel and locked my knee back fairly sharply (like a hyperextension movement but nowhere near that extreme, and with no significant load on the leg). Instant shooting pains in my knee. I struggled down and took it easy for the next couple of days. Kept skiing for a week or so and dealt with minor pain. Then, on another day I took a small drop and landed backseat and off-balance. You can see me struggle with my balance on my brother's vid at about the 5s mark. I had all my weight on the dodgy knee and it was kind of torqued too. After that run I wanted to do another lap, but the pain was pretty intense. I took the rest of the day off.

Anyway, long story short - what could I've done? Cartilage damage? So far, my rehabilitation program has involved deadlifting and squatting . Two legs and there's minor pain at the bottom ROM of both those lifts. If I try a pistol, however, and get more than about a 90° bend, shooting pain. As usual, I'm a dick and refuse to rest. I also haven't seen a doc or got MRI/X-rays or anything. I thought the initial injury wouldn't have been enough to damage things this much so as usual I ignored it and dealt with the pain. It's going on about 6 weeks and I still get the pain at lower ROM.

Any armchair doctors or real ones want to comment?

Thanks in advance guys, and hope you're all well.

On a related note, right at the end of that skiing vid you can see my where my brother did his MCL in his right knee .

[MasterKiller]

I am recovering from the same injury, from the sounds of your symptoms. Mine was a sprained MCL. It's been healing about 6 weeks. The last week I have finally regained full ROM with no pain, but if I flex it too much (triangles, etc...) it throbs at night.

The surgeon told me that unless it's locking up on you, it's probably not cartiladge.

MRI is the only way to tell for sure.

[Toby]

Huh. I didn't think any of the CLs because if I rub the bottom of my kneecap, there's a definite tender area. You know how you can relax your leg when it's straight and move the kneecap around? Well, when I do and rub the bottom, pain, irrespective of its position when I rub it. So I figured some sort of cartilage damage, or the kneecap (meniscus?) itself. But the nature of the injury wasn't enough to do that sort of damage, or so I thought at the time.

I should see a doc and get scans, but I suck.

[Toby]

Forgot to add: I can manipulate the hell out of it with no load on and feel no pain. E.g. I can bring my knee to my chest and torque my ankle left and right and nothing. I can bring my foot up near the opposite chest/shoulder (like I was trying to put my foot behind my head) and no pain. It's only when I bend it under load (e.g. a pistol is impossible right now). The pain is definitely at the bottom of the kneecap, right where it hurts when I press on it directly.

[IronFist]

Sorry, I don't know what's wrong with your knee, but that was a pretty cool vid.

[Chief Fox]

Nice vid. It really sounds like some ice and rest is what you need. But it also sounds like you won't do that. Good luck.

[Toby]

Heh. Yep, he's got a cool helmet cam that he used a fair bit this season. It was good to spend a few weeks in the mountains with him and his mates.