Sharp pain at outer side of my knee?!
Question:
Sharp pain at outer side of my knee?
i'm an athlete. Been doing a lot of stair master, squats, lunges etc. haven't been running in a while. Recently started having pain around the knee area when walking, going DOWN stairs, bending the knee. tender to touch. the location is on the outer side of the leg, at level of patella but to the side, so i DON"T think it's not the knee cap. Feels like possibly a tendon, ligament, joint thing. pain worse and stiff in the morning. ice helps. Taped it today and felt better in the afternoon. attempted a light job and sharp shooting pain began withing a couple of minutes. any ideas what it could be? Anything serious? can I do anything to speed the healing? anyone had prolotherapy?
Answers:
Sounds like a strain or tear of your lateral collateral knee ligament. If particularly severe and/or not responding to rest, ice, bracing/wrapping, and ibuprofen...it might be worth seeing a doctor and getting an MRI. If its a significant tear (or if the meniscus is injured), you might need arthroscopic knee surgery to fix it. Or, hopefully it is just a strain and the rest, ice, ibuprofen, with later stretches and exercises will take care of it.
Prolotherapy (debateably helpful) is more for chronic pain, not the acute pain you have...and would not be helpful for a torn ligament +/- meniscal injury.
Hope this helps.