Knee problems

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Natebishop3

Natebishop3

Don't tread on me!
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So I know a lot of you guys have had knee problems.

I've had knee problems since I was a kid. Both knees have had a history of dislocating, and sometimes in the most bizarre way.

Yesterday, for example, I was laying in bed half asleep, I think I rolled over and my right knee just popped out. I wasn't really conscious so I thrashed around a bit (which I think made it worse), and then I got out of bed and tried to pop it back in. In the past it has gone right back in, but that was not he case yesterday. It was extremely painful, and the longer it was out, the worse it got. My knee tightened up to the point where I couldn't straighten it out.

I was stuck on the end of the bed, my leg was stuck in a 90 degree angle, and I couldn't move. My leg felt dead. Finally I had to call 911 because I couldn't move. The EMTs came, helped me get out to the car and my mom drove me to the ER.

I spent 8 hours at the ER. They couldn't figure out how to get my leg straight. The doctors said it was my meniscus, and they said they had never seen the meniscus not just pop back in. They tried to numb me up with morphine, but it didn't do anything. They tried to pop it back in but the pain was excruciating. Finally, after 7 hours, they knocked me out and got it fixed.

The annoying part was that they looked at my medical history and apparently an MRI that I had back in 1998 diagnosed a tear in my meniscus, but Kaiser Permanente never told me. Another shitty factor is that I've had this problem in both knees, so I'm wondering if both my knees have the same problem. What's weird is that my mom has the same problem where her knees will dislocate. We always thought it was a genetic problem.

I'm going to see a specialist soon hopefully, and I guess they'll probably have to operate. I'm just pissed that I wasn't told about this problem back in 98.

Does any of this sound familiar?
 
No...never heard of this problem before. Sorry for your pain, Nate. Hope they can fix it for you.
 
What was that surgery ewill had? Didnt his knees pop out on the regular is why?
 
3RA1N1AC said:
You know this is a blazer board right? This sounds all too familiar

My knees are solid though
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I was thinking about Roy as soon as they mentioned meniscus.... :sigh:

My NBA career is over!
 
I injured my knee playing flag football in college.

Ever since then when I play basketball and do side to side motions they'll give out and swell up. Not entirely sure what happens, if it happens again while I'm playing in the bball league I'm in, I'll finally get an mri to check them out
 
JFizzleRaider said:
I injured my knee playing flag football in college.

Ever since then when I play basketball and do side to side motions they'll give out and swell up. Not entirely sure what happens, if it happens again while I'm playing in the bball league I'm in, I'll finally get an mri to check them out
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Do they pop out of place and then you have to pop them in place?

I think mine first started playing basketball when I was 16. That's when I think I tore my meniscus.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Do they pop out of place and then you have to pop them in place?

I think mine first started playing basketball when I was 16. That's when I think I tore my meniscus.
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I don't have to pop it back into place. I'm unsure what goes on, I'll plant with my left foot and the knee will give out. It feels like a crunch goes on in my knee, but I'm able to run it out sometimes and continue to play off adrenaline. then it swells the day after and gets bruised.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
I don't have to pop it back into place. I'm unsure what goes on, I'll plant with my left foot and the knee will give out. It feels like a crunch goes on in my knee, but I'm able to run it out sometimes and continue to play off adrenaline. then it swells the day after and gets bruised.
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That doesn't sound good man. I would most definitely get that checked out.

I was always convinced that my problem was just a genetic defect because my mom has the same problem, BUT the doctors were convinced that it's a meniscus tear.
 
My knee just buckles occasionally, no pain.

You know how if someone like hits the back of your knee and you kind of buckle? thats what I mean. I always assumed it was due to an injury from my childhood, but one of my siblings has the same issues with their knee, and didn't have any injuries playing sports.
 
Just checking in. My knees are jacked too. About 2 years ago I hurt my back really bad. All I did was bend over and pick something up off of the floor. For nearly two weeks it was excruciatingly painful just to get out of bed. I couldn't sit up, so to get up out of bed and to my feet, I had to scootch over to the side of the bed, slide and flop down onto the floor, then turn around, get on my knees, then get my feet under me, and then push myself up. The push up part had to be done in two phases because of the pain. It was as though I was doing the up motion of a squat once I got my feet under me. Damn it friggin' hurt. Once I was on my feet I had to hang on to the wall for a few minutes until my back loosened up to where I could walk around. Just as my back started feeling better my right knee swelled up and became unstable. I think it had something to do with how I was needing to get out of bed by putting a ton of pressure on my knees to stand since I couldn't use my lower back and stomach muscles much. Once that knee started feeling better I hurt my other knee running to catch a streetcar. Same symptoms, swelling and unstable, and popping every couple minutes. It was a really shitty six months of constant pain. My left knee still pops every five minutes or so, and my right one from time to time. I blame my sedentary job. I have began exercising and eating healthy-er and have lost 30 pounds.
 
Nate's got knee & knee problems but a bitch ain't one.
 
My knees feel fine, always have. But lately when I bend them they sound like I'm crushing rice crispies in my hand.

I'm guessing that's a bad thing. :dunno:
 
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Natebishop3 said:
So I know a lot of you guys have had knee problems.

I've had knee problems since I was a kid. Both knees have had a history of dislocating, and sometimes in the most bizarre way.

Yesterday, for example, I was laying in bed half asleep, I think I rolled over and my right knee just popped out. I wasn't really conscious so I thrashed around a bit (which I think made it worse), and then I got out of bed and tried to pop it back in. In the past it has gone right back in, but that was not he case yesterday. It was extremely painful, and the longer it was out, the worse it got. My knee tightened up to the point where I couldn't straighten it out.

I was stuck on the end of the bed, my leg was stuck in a 90 degree angle, and I couldn't move. My leg felt dead. Finally I had to call 911 because I couldn't move. The EMTs came, helped me get out to the car and my mom drove me to the ER.

I spent 8 hours at the ER. They couldn't figure out how to get my leg straight. The doctors said it was my meniscus, and they said they had never seen the meniscus not just pop back in. They tried to numb me up with morphine, but it didn't do anything. They tried to pop it back in but the pain was excruciating. Finally, after 7 hours, they knocked me out and got it fixed.

The annoying part was that they looked at my medical history and apparently an MRI that I had back in 1998 diagnosed a tear in my meniscus, but Kaiser Permanente never told me. Another shitty factor is that I've had this problem in both knees, so I'm wondering if both my knees have the same problem. What's weird is that my mom has the same problem where her knees will dislocate. We always thought it was a genetic problem.

I'm going to see a specialist soon hopefully, and I guess they'll probably have to operate. I'm just pissed that I wasn't told about this problem back in 98.

Does any of this sound familiar?
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Yes sounds very familiar. I've had meniscus on both knees and I think some of us are predispositioned to have this on both knees, in fact I bet the tear is in the exact same spot on both knees like mine was. I tore my left one in '94 in highschool, just bending down to open up my locker. I lived with it for a few years, popping in and out, even playing sports with it. Every time it pops though it tears a little more, and one day mine popped out like yours and I couldn't get it back in no matter what I did, I had surgery a day or two later which fixed it. My right knee went out in 2001, similar way, bending down to tighten my shoe lace. It popped in and out for a year or two but this time I got surgery before it went all the way out. Your surgeries will be in and out easy peasy, 4 week recovery time, but you will be walking in less than a week. I bet if you think back you can remember one instance where you first hurt it, that is usually the most painful time and your knee probably swelled up and was hard to move or walk on for a few days, after the initial injury the popping doesn't hurt much after the meniscus is relocated. Good luck, its not that bad thanks to modern medicine.
 
I tore my patellar tendon in my left knee in high school. I think I have a meniscus problem in my right knee now as it buckles occasionally.
 
Damn that sounds painful Nate. And I'm guessing being a sports guy, you have a tolerance for pain. So to hear they had to put you under because of the pain, means you were probably suffering for a while.

Thanks to sports medicine, whatever is wrong with your knee is probably something they have seen before and know how to fix. Donk sounds like he went through it and recovered fairly well. 100% donk?

I tore my ACL playing basketball in 1993. Back then I thought I was fortunate because the doctor told me ACL replacement surgery has come a long way. Not far enough for me . .. . I still am active and don't let the knee stop me, but I've never been the same. It swells with the slightest twist and holds me back most of the time. But I am still able to play sports, gold, ski with support in the reconstructed knee. That was '93. These days they do wonders with knees, hips and shoulders.
 
Treaty_of_Batum said:
Thanks to sports medicine, whatever is wrong with your knee is probably something they have seen before and know how to fix. Donk sounds like he went through it and recovered fairly well. 100% donk?
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I wouldn't say 100%, but close. My right knee feels less so than my left and I don't like to squat or over bend my knees, and I also don't like to kneel. Not sure how much of that is in my head and how much of that is in my knees though. If I was a pro athlete I would feel compromised, but for everything I use my knees for it doesn't bother me much at all. I'm also very active most of the time, run, lift, swim all with little or no issue. After the surgery you should be able to moderately run by week 4. The surgery is a quick scope and very noninvasive, if this was 1985 you would be fucked with up to 6 month recovery time as they would have had to completely open you up.
 
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Natebishop3 said:
Does any of this sound familiar?
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Yup, had the same exact thing happen to me a while back. Crazy story although doesn't sound near as painful as yours!

Was jet skiing about 5 or so years ago and my knee popped out and locked up just like yours, couldn't straighten it out for hours and even had to drive my car home ( a manual ). My friend who owned the jet skies is a foot doctor and told me to take a ton of ibuprofen and take a hot bath to loosen the joint. Once I got home and did this my grandma was over visiting. I gave her a side hug and all of a sudden in that exact moment my knee popped back into place! What a relief, she apparently has some seriously good energy. Got a meniscus surgery a couple months latter but to this day my knee has never been the same, swells up after playing basketball and just hurts all around periodically.
 
I tore my right MCL (and fractured my tibial head) in 8th grade playing football, surgery went fine and I was (mostly) back to normal, then when I was 30 I tore my right ACL on a fluky landing when I hopped a fence at a dog park, Surgery went sort of OK, but my knee definitely didn't feel like the joint was lined up the way it should. A year later I was running on Mt. Tabor and it just seized on me. Had it scanned and they told me I tore my meniscus. I opted not to get surgery at the time because I knew I'd be starting the clock on a knee replacement.

With strength training and yoga-like stretching I've been able to get my leg to a point where it doesn't really bother me anymore, except that there's definitely some arthritis and I take care not to do much jumping so the meniscus stays in place.

I guess that's a long way of saying, everybody's issues are unique to them and it's tough to compare injuries and prognosis even when they are generically the same; "torn meniscus." Hopefully you can find a good orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist and come up with a good plan for getting your knees back.
 
Nikolokolus said:
I tore my right MCL (and fractured my tibial head) in 8th grade playing football, surgery went fine and I was (mostly) back to normal, then when I was 30 I tore my right ACL on a fluky landing when I hopped a fence at a dog park, Surgery went sort of OK, but my knee definitely didn't feel like the joint was lined up the way it should. A year later I was running on Mt. Tabor and it just seized on me. Had it scanned and they told me I tore my meniscus. I opted not to get surgery at the time because I knew I'd be starting the clock on a knee replacement.

With strength training and yoga-like stretching I've been able to get my leg to a point where it doesn't really bother me anymore, except that there's definitely some arthritis and I take care not to do much jumping so the meniscus stays in place.

I guess that's a long way of saying, everybody's issues are unique to them and it's tough to compare injuries and prognosis even when they are generically the same; "torn meniscus." Hopefully you can find a good orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist and come up with a good plan for getting your knees back.
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So your meniscus popped out of place and you did strength and conditioning to keep that from happening again? I always felt the reason why my knees popped out of place was because I have weak knees. I always figured my tendons were too weak, and that's why something was popping out. I had no idea it was a meniscus.

I'm not even sure if they know it's a tear. This was something that Kaiser neglected to tell me back in 1998. Who knows if they're right. I do need to see an ortho specialist and hopefully it's something I can fix with similar methods as you.
 
Natebishop3 said:
So your meniscus popped out of place and you did strength and conditioning to keep that from happening again? I always felt the reason why my knees popped out of place was because I have weak knees. I always figured my tendons were too weak, and that's why something was popping out. I had no idea it was a meniscus.

I'm not even sure if they know it's a tear. This was something that Kaiser neglected to tell me back in 1998. Who knows if they're right. I do need to see an ortho specialist and hopefully it's something I can fix with similar methods as you.
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The meniscus has a small tear in it near the edge, so occasionally it feels like it gets "snagged" on something and my knee catches. I usually just grab my ankle and pull it to my butt in a stretch and it sort of pops back into place. Keeping my quad, hamstring and calf muscles strong just means that things stay a little "tighter" and there's less strain on my joint, it doesn't keep the meniscus perfectly in place.

It all depends on the way your meniscus is torn as to what the best course of action is going to be, but definitely talk to an orthopedic surgeon. I used Anthony Colorito and he was pretty good and straight forward about what the best course of action should be.

Eventually I'm probably going to have to have a menisectomy (either or full or partial) but I'm putting it off for as long as I can tolerate it. So far that's been about 6 years.
 
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Nikolokolus said:
The meniscus has a small tear in it near the edge, so occasionally it feels like it gets "snagged" on something and my knee catches. I usually just grab my ankle and pull it to my butt in a stretch and it sort of pops back into place. Keeping my quad, hamstring and calf muscles strong just means that things stay a little "tighter" and there's less strain on my joint, it doesn't keep the meniscus perfectly in place.

It all depends on the way your meniscus is torn as to what the best course of action is going to be, but definitely talk to an orthopedic surgeon. I used Anthony Colorito and he was pretty good and straight forward about what the best course of action should be.

Eventually I'm probably going to have to have a menisectomy (either or full or partial) but I'm putting it off for as long as I can tolerate it. So far that's been about 6 years.
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Yeah, so that makes sense. I think mine snagged, and simply wouldn't un-snag. In the past it has gone back into place on its own and it's fine, but this time I couldn't straighten my knee at all. It was extremely painful.

Both knees have done this though.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Yeah, so that makes sense. I think mine snagged, and simply wouldn't un-snag. In the past it has gone back into place on its own and it's fine, but this time I couldn't straighten my knee at all. It was extremely painful.

Both knees have done this though.
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Sounds like it could be a congenital defect? But, really my medical training ends at an associate degree in paramedicine, I'm no doctor.
 
Nikolokolus said:
Sounds like it could be a congenital defect? But, really my medical training ends at an associate degree in paramedicine, I'm no doctor.
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My mom has been telling me for years that it's genetics because she's had the same problem since she was a little girl. The exact same problem.
 
Natebishop3 said:
My mom has been telling me for years that it's genetics because she's had the same problem since she was a little girl. The exact same problem.
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This is just pure speculation, but maybe they can "reshape" your meniscii? (or whatever structural defect they find that's causing your issues).
 
Nate - I know exactly what you are talking about. I tore the ACL and the meniscus in my left knee long ago. A few years later I was walking into the house from the yard when my meniscus "caught" on the joint and locked up my knee. I had to crawl into the house. I had it scoped a couple of days later and that fixed it.

Then, two years ago, I tore the ACL in my other knee, but that's a different story.
 
BTW, I do believe genetics plays a part. My 18 year old daughter tore her ACL as well last year - dancing at a party.
 
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