Anyone know anything about knee injuries?

Question

I recently had a fall off my bicycle, and i landed on flat concrete on my knee, wrist and head. Luckily my bike helmet protected my head and i escaped with a mild headache for about an hour afterwards. I have a few cuts and scrapes here and there but my knee has some problems...

Aswell as having a layer of skin removed (and both layers of my tracksuit trousers lol) there was some swelling just below the knee cap. I rested it for the rest of that day and put ice on it for about an hour and today it's feeling a bit better, but when i straighten it, it almost feels like theres still a swelling underneath the skin somewhere and perhaps a little under the knee cap and it becomes painful, so i cannot straighten it all the way.

Walking with my knee slightly bent however, although a little awkward, is no pain atall to walk on and i can bend it quite a bit before i can feel the swelling.

Will it heal ok or could it be more serious? Do you think i should get it checked out?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I know that the massage and stretching shown in the source link really helped me when my knee was injured. Have you seen a doctor?

Answer 2

I would get it checked out. The knee is the most complex and sensitive skeletal and muscle joint in the body so something that appears to be minor could be something like a microfracture/sprain. Don't want to scare you or anything but I had a microfracture and a sprain on the knee, I got it checked out four days later thinking it was nothing and it took me 8 months to walk again without surgery because the recovery got out of hand developing into an algodystrophy or Sudeck syndrome - the knee became stiff, fluid built up and because of this I went through real torture and pain which eventually got resolved with hydrotherapy. Go get it checked out, all you will lose is some time and some bucks but if you leave it to heal on its own, a badly nurtured knee is something you will live with for life. I'm sure it's nothing, but my advice is to have it checked out. Even if it's nothing, always wear protection on your knees when playing any kind of sport as knee injuries are the most recurrent.

Answer 3

I had the same thing happen, only I slipped while playing field hockey.It turns out I tore my ACL and my meniscus. I hope this isn't the case, because then you will need surgery and a lot of rehab.But if you didn't hear a "pop" at the time that you fell, you probably just strained your ACL.