Knee Sprain and General Knee Injury Thread
Okay, this thread is mainly for your "war stories" in regard to knee sprains/strains or meniscus-related conditions (if any such thread existed, I'm sorry -- browsed dozens of pages, couldn't find one). But first, my own story:
This is my first semi-serious injury (only had a right ankle sprain before). Played a pickup game on asphalt. Was dribbling circling toward the basket with my man on me, and then attempted a jump-stop to pull-up on him, and my right knee rolled hard on jump-stop, before I could even attempt to make a jumpshot. I've had pretty much two vectors of movement at once, and the stop was very abrupt and my right leg took the impact full-on. Fell down immediately and felt bones click a couple of times, rather audibly. The pain was rather mild -- I mean, nothing you'd expect from a miniscus/ACL tear (not that I've felt it myself heh), so I figured it was a sprain right away. Mostly dull pain, which was soon almost completely gone. But the worst symptom was the instability of the joint and constant twisting at every awkward angle -- which pissed me off more than any dull pain that i had initially. Entering a car was the worst, at first -- I would always use my right leg as pivot, out of habit/reflex, and it'd twist like a mofo.
Could not play on, and took a cab home. Went to the general traumatologist the same night. Just a general ER traumatologist guy, he only did an xray (although it was pretty obvious my bones were just fine), and no echo or MRI (duh). Applied cold, etc. It swelled the next day, but it went away quick enough (used some local medication for that). I have been using the rather tight bandage ever since then, 24/7. Since then I've spent like FOUR weeks recovering now (doing self-weight exercises at home, no weightlifting yet). The last 6-10 days I've been feeling increasingly comfortable with my leg (except i couldn't bend it completely without feeling some pain), and intensified my home workouts (boxing practices, jumping rope, etc), and like five days ago I tried balling a little -- not full-force -- on the street again, and it went very well (could sprint, crossing over (although nothing too risky), do jumpshots, even did a spin move to the basket). Still hasn't went to see orthopedist (I know, I'm a retard).
And at the end of my fourth week (today) I went balling again, and was just meaning to ball half-force again, and just a couple of minutes into the game the a-hole knee rolled again! Not as bad as the first time, but still quite bad. I don't even remember what I did, probably just an awkward angle again. Not sure if it's going to swell tomorrow.
So yeah, I realize taht I'm a dumbass for not going to the doctor for proper diagnosis (that traumatologist dude doesn't count, with his useless xrays). Then again, I realize that with this type of injury there seems to be no treatment apart from surgery (arthroscopic). What are the odds of me needing it, though? I mean, what are surgery options if there is no tear, just some sprain?
Have any of you had a similar sprain, and did you just , like, rest for a month and then used a knee brace and there were no recurrences?
Since i play amateur right now, I've decided to suspend all my basketball activities for at least 1-2 months. I'm an experienced weightlifter, and will return to the gym for a LOT of leg work (mostly machines this time though), and some of my usual routines, as the only exercises that bother my knee are dynamic (as in bball), I can do a lot of other things very well even today after this second roll.
I mean when it was an ankle sprain, i would just shrug it off no problem. But a knee is a knee, right?