You Have Significant Weakness Trying To Straighten Your Knee
Severe weakness when trying to straighten the knee, even a few days after the injury, could mean that you suffered a severe tendon injury. Common causes of weakness include patella dislocations, patella tendon tears, and quadriceps tendon tears. Patella tendon and quadriceps tendon tears are not common in youth or collegiate sports, but we will see a few of these every year.
In older weekend warriors who are wondering why their knee is weak after a serious injury, patella tendon and quadriceps tendon injuries are far more common. If you are over 35 and felt a loud pop in your knee while pushing off during tennis, or basketball then you need to consider that you have seriously injured your patella or quadriceps tendon.
After an injury to one of these large, critically important tendons, you will find that the knee will feel unstable. You will think that the knee is unable to support your weight without giving way. You should be promptly evaluated by a Sports Medicine physician to determine the type of injury you had. Both quadriceps and patella tendon injuries require surgery to repair these large essential tendons.
What Will A Personal Injury Lawyer Ask
It is smart to prepare for your consultation ahead of time. Jot down answers to the following questions so you can move through the meeting efficiently:
To win a personal injury case, your attorney will have to prove that negligence on the part of the retail store is what directly led to your injury. The lawyer will need to prove all the following happened because of the stores wet floor:
- You suffered damages
- The store had a reasonable duty to keep you safe from falls
- They breached this duty
- That the stores negligent actions caused your injury
What Is A Knee Contusion
A knee contusion is bruising caused by direct trauma to muscle, or bone. Whilst most bruised knees are not serious, a very hard impact may result in intense pain and difficulty moving the leg.
If this is the case, then medical attention should be sought as soon as possible to rule out other injuries such as:
Whilst bruising at the knee usually occurs following an impact injury, it may also occur following any kind of soft tissue damage. For example, a knee sprain , or a strain to a surrounding muscle or tendons .
Bruising occurs due to damage to some of the smaller blood vessels within the injured tissue. The blood leaks into the surrounding tissues, resulting in a black or blue appearance under the skin. Bruising usually develops within 24 hours of an injury. This will then slowly fade, appearing yellow or green as the blood dissipates.
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When Should You Call The Doctor For A Knee Injury
Emergent medical care should be sought if, due to injury,
- there is almost immediate swelling in the knee,
- if the bones appear deformed,
- if there is the inability to bear weight,
- if the pain is intolerable,
- if there is a loss of sensation below the injury site,
- if the foot and ankle turn cold and no pulses can be felt.
Medical care should be considered if a knee injury does not resolve with routine home care, including rest, ice, compression, and elevation . Other symptoms that may suggest the need for medical care include recurrent pain and swelling.
A swollen joint is never normal, and if it is red and warm or if there is an associated fever, more urgent medical attention should be accessed because of the worry of infection being present. This is particularly a warning sign in infants and children, people who have had knee joint replacements, intravenous drug abusers, and those who have compromised immune systems.
Can Knee Injuries Be Prevented
To help prevent knee injuries:
- Make sure your kids wear the recommended protective equipment for sports .
- Make sure your kids wear supportive athletic shoes that are in good condition.
- During workouts, kids should always warm up and cool down.
- Encourage kids to do regular strength training to support muscles, and stretching or yoga to improve flexibility.
- When jumping, kids should bend the knees while landing. This takes pressure off the ACL and prevents injury.
- If kids cut laterally or pivot frequently , encourage them to crouch and bend at the knees and hips to reduce the chances of an ACL injury.
- For kids who play just one sport, conditioning and training year-round even if it’s at a lower intensity than during the competitive season can help them stay in shape and make an injury less likely.
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First Aid For Knee Injuries In The First 48 To 72 Hours
- Stop your activity immediately. Dont work through the pain.
- Rest the joint at first.
- Reduce pain, swelling and internal bleeding with icepacks, applied for 15 minutes every couple of hours.
- Bandage the knee firmly and extend the wrapping down the lower leg.
- Elevate the injured leg.
- Dont apply heat to the joint.
- Avoid alcohol, as this encourages bleeding and swelling.
- Dont massage the joint, as this encourages bleeding and swelling.
Is My Knee Injury Serious 5 Signs To Look For
Howard J. Luks, MDUpdated September 17, 2021
Your knee twists, you hear a pop, and now you have knee swelling and pain when trying to walk or with bending your knee. Perhaps you were struck by another player and have bruising, but no swelling. Are these severe knee injuries? When should you consider seeing a Sports Medicine Doctor following a knee injury? Lets go over 5 things that trained professionals look for to determine if your knee injury is serious.
As an active athlete or competitor, you know that severe knee injuries are common. Both contact and non-contact knee injuries can be severe. This post will cover five signs to look for to help determine if you might have a severe knee injury. In general, the most common and worrisome finding is immediate, significant swelling.
Even though most of the injuries I see in the office turn out to be mild, it is essential for you to know what the warning signs are to look for a potentially severe knee injury.
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Professional Help For Knee Injuries
- Aspiration if the knee joint is grossly swollen, the doctor may release the pressure by drawing off some of the fluid with a fine needle.
- Physiotherapy including techniques to reduce pain, kneecap taping, exercises for increased mobility and strength, and associated rehabilitation techniques.
- Arthroscopic surgery or keyhole surgery, where the knee operation is performed by inserting slender instruments through small incisions . Cartilage tears are often treated with arthroscopic surgery.
- Open surgery required when the injuries are more severe and the entire joint needs to be laid open for repair.
How Much Will A Personal Injury Lawyer Consult Cost
It will cost you nothing. Furthermore, if this reader chooses to move forward with their case by suing the retail store, theyll only pay their lawyer if they win the case. Its true: Not only can a personal injury lawyer help you figure out if you have a case, but they work on contingency. They dont get any payment unless you win and collect damages.
If you are ready to discuss your situation with a personal injury lawyer who specializes in slip-and-fall cases, click below to get connected to a professional in our network today. You deserve expert help!
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Common Knee Injuries For Slip And Fall Accidents
Usually, walking from one place to another is an easy and safe experience that most of us do not even think about. Some people appear to be unlucky such that something that should be safe and easy actually ends up injuring them. But luck actually has very little to do with it because, in many cases, it is actually caused by the negligence of a premise owner, who allows a state of disrepair or poor maintenance to continue. As such, these environments are unsafe and just waiting for an accident to happen. Unfortunately, until somebody slips, trips or falls, very little will be done about it.
Slip and trip accidents are often not taken seriously. It seems that people assume a slip, trip or fall is a minor occurrence with little to no consequence. In reality, however, it accounts for one million visits to the emergency room each year. Not just that, slips and falls can actually be lethal and any non-lethal injuries can be very severe. These accidents are very dangerous and certainly no laughing matter. Besides potential physical damage, people can also become emotionally scarred, worrying that they will fall again. Whats perhaps worst for many people is that it can also lead to substantial financial losses as a result of high medical bills and an inability to return to work. If this happens, people should put in a slip and fall claim, which is usually covered under premises liability.
Tell Your Gp Practice
Regardless of whether this is your first fall, or you fall regularly, it’s important to tell your GP practice, or other health professional such as a physiotherapist or occupational therapist. Many underlying causes of falls can be treated or corrected.
Think about what you might do if you had a fall:
- would you know how to get up from the floor, or summon help?
- do you currently have a falls plan?
- what changes can you make that might help?
- how will you make these changes?
- who do you need to talk to?
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Is Your Knee Bothering You
As our world is getting back to some semblance of “normal”, people are resuming activities and sports that they had stopped during the pandemic. After long periods of inactivity, we are more prone to injury.
When it comes to sporting and exercising activities, knee injuries tend to be quite a common occurrence. The good thing is that most of them do not require surgery. However, it is still important that you be on the lookout for any signs that may indicate your knee injury is serious and see a Bay Area knee injury specialist. Some symptoms to watch for are:
You Cant Put Weight On It
If its immensely painful to stand or put any weight on your injured knee, theres definitely something serious going on.
Inability to bear weight after a knee injury could be caused by a fracture, bone contusion, cartilage injury or ligament tear, explains Dr. Brown. Initial treatment includes using crutches or a steerable scooter to take pressure off the injured limb and minimize additional damage to the knee.
If this sounds like you, listen to what your body is trying to tell you. Dr. Brown warns that the old adage of no pain, no gain doesnt apply in this situation.
He advises seeking orthopedic evaluation as soon as possibleeven that same day if you can.
After a minor injury like a twist or fall, you might not be able to put weight on your leg immediately. Thats not necessarily a cause for alarm, but if you dont feel like youve recovered within a few minutes, this could indicate something more serious.
Its similar to when you injure a wrist or ankle. If you fall on your wrist or twist your ankle, you may experience searing pain for a moment or two. When the injury isnt severe, youre able to shake it off and resume your life after a few minutes at the most. However, if youve experienced a sprain, the pain doesnt subside. Instead, it gets worse.
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Should I See A Doctor For A Knee Sprain
If you suspect you have sprained your knee, try and restrict movement and physical activity. Its recommended that you ice your knee in 15-20 intervals to combat swelling. Within a day or so of your injury, youll have a good idea how severe your sprain is based on the pain and discomfort you feel trying to move. If the pain is still intense and youre struggling to move around, youll want to see a healthcare provider to determine the severity of the injury, and to make sure you didnt tear one of your knee ligaments. Your healthcare provider can discover the precise nature of your knee injury with an X-ray, CT scan or MRI.
If the pain is subsiding and you believe the sprain to be mild, here are a few home treatments you can deploy to accelerate your recovery time and manage the pain.
- Take Ibuprofen or aspirin to manage the pain and swelling. Always follow the dosage direction on the bottle. Taking too many can have nasty side effects that will leave you with more problems than the knee sprain you started out with.
- Compress your knee.
- Elevate the injured knee to allow for blood flow.
- Continue to ice every few hours to restrict swelling.
Causes Of Knee Bruises
Bruises to the knee generally occur from direct and blows to the body involving something blunt. This may occur due to a fall or when a person bangs their knee into something hard.
Bruising can also develop alongside other types of injury, such as fractures, broken bones, torn tendons, or dislocated joints.
Older adults are more likely to bruise than younger adults. Additionally, people may bruise more easily than others.
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Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament
You hear a pop and can’t move after you suddenly change direction — often while playing soccer, football, or basketball. You may have torn your ACL, which connects the femur and the tibia and prevents the tibia from moving too far forward. Your knee will hurt and swell and feel unstable.
You can tear or strain any of the tissues that hold your knee together: Ligaments connect bones to each other tendons connect muscle to bone. Irritated tendons from using them too much? That’s tendinitis.
What Are The Types And Causes Of Knee Injuries
While direct blows to the knee will occur, the knee is more susceptible to twisting or stretching injuries , taking the joint through a greater range of motion than it was meant to tolerate.
If the knee is stressed from a specific direction, then the ligament trying to hold it in place against that force can stretch or tear. These injuries are called sprains. Sprains are graded as a first, second, or third degree based upon how much damage has occurred. Grade-one sprains stretch the ligament but don’t tear the fibers grade-two sprains partially tear the fibers, but the ligament remains intact, and grade-three tears completely disrupt the ligament.
Twisting injuries to the knee put stress on the cartilage or meniscus and can pinch them between the tibial surface and the edges of the femoral condyle, potentially causing tears.
Injuries to the muscles and tendons surrounding the knee are caused by acute hyperflexion or hyperextension of the knee or by overuse. These injuries are called strains. Strains are graded similarly to sprains, with first-degree strains stretching muscle or tendon fibers but not tearing them, second-degree strains partially tearing the muscle-tendon unit, and third-degree strains completely tearing it.
There can be inflammation of the bursas of the knee that can occur because of direct blows or chronic use and abuse.
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When To See Your Doctor
Don’t wait if your knee pain is sudden and intense. Pick up the phone if it won’t go away or gets worse.
To make a diagnosis, your doctor might take X-rays or other images of your knee. Blood or knee fluid samples can help confirm or rule out certain conditions. Treatment may include medication, special exercises, braces, or in some cases surgery. Losing weight could help lessen pressure and strain on your knees.
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How To Tell If A Knee Injury Is Seriousyale Medicine Explains
Knee injuries can range from mildly uncomfortable to devastating. If youve hurt your knee, its important to assess the damage so you can decide whether you should see a doctor.
A key sign to look for is swelling. Serious injuries cause a lot of swelling in the knee, especially in younger patients, says Christina Allen, MD, division chief of Sports Medicine. This is especially so when the swelling arises quickly. Someone could be arthritic and get some swelling the next day, but the rapid onset of swelling in which its hard to see where your kneecap is, is a cardinal sign that theres something serious thats happened to your knee.
According to Dr. Allen, swelling that comes on suddenly is usually caused by blood trapped in the joint it typically occurs within three to four hours of the injury. If the injury is a torn ACL, a small blood vessel is also tornand when that happens, the swelling can also be significant.
If your knee looks like a grapefruit, you should get it checked out, Allen says.
In this short video, Dr. Allen explains the basics of knee injuries and when to see a doctor.
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