I need quick advice

[meganew]

I just had to call my H to pick me up from my run. I was about 7 miles in and my knee, which honestly is usually a bit sore, just started aching. Usually I can run through it and it will eventually go away (I know- smrt!) but this did not get better. It's bad. I tried walking, sitting, stretching- it hurts no matter what I do. I can barely stand on it.

Wtf do I do? I mean, I'm gonna go home and rest, but what if I tore something? How would I know? Is this something you'd go to urgent care for? I know ours does X-rays, if that makes a difference.

I'm so pissed at myself.

And even though I'm in massive amounts of pain to the point where I'm near tears, I still told my husband over the phone, "This changes nothing- I'm still attempting the marathon goddamnit! It's my last chance!" Because I'm a stubborn asshole.

[MWOS]

personally, I wouldn't go to urgent care. You don't have a broken bone, it's something soft tissue related. I'd ice the shit out of it and take anti-inflammatories. If it's this bad tomorrow where you can't walk, I'd go to my regular doctor or if at all possible, a sports medicine dr.

[copperboom]

Go to urgent care. If its often sore, and now has progressed to the point where you can barely put weight on it, you need to get it checked out.

[cinderbella]

They can do an xray but you would probably need an MRI to look for ligament/tendon damage. When I hurt mine, the xray didn't show anything bone related but the mri showed a ruptured acl. They might want to wait a few days if it's swollen. I hope it's nothing major!!

[meganew]

Oh, and this is different than its usual aches- it's painful to touch. It's the outside of my knee and if I try to touch it, I see stars. Omg.

[joenali]

If you are in that much pain something is obviously not right, go to urgent care.

[natsnow]

Sept 29, 2013 8:53:30 GMT -5 MWOS said:

personally, I wouldn't go to urgent care. You don't have a broken bone, it's something soft tissue related. I'd ice the shit out of it and take anti-inflammatories. If it's this bad tomorrow where you can't walk, I'd go to my regular doctor or if at all possible, a sports medicine dr.

agreed. The urgent care can't do much for you, other than get xrays and say, yep, it's not broken. If it doesn't get better then you should see an orthopedic doc.

y'all love urgent care up in here. lol.

[joenali]

Sept 29, 2013 8:59:09 GMT -5 natsnow said:

Sept 29, 2013 8:53:30 GMT -5 MWOS said:

personally, I wouldn't go to urgent care. You don't have a broken bone, it's something soft tissue related. I'd ice the shit out of it and take anti-inflammatories. If it's this bad tomorrow where you can't walk, I'd go to my regular doctor or if at all possible, a sports medicine dr.

agreed. The urgent care can't do much for you, other than get xrays and say, yep, it's not broken. If it doesn't get better then you should see an orthopedic doc.

y'all love urgent care up in here. lol.

But they might be able to give her some pain meds to help her get through the day.

[natsnow]

Sept 29, 2013 9:00:05 GMT -5 joenali said:

Sept 29, 2013 8:59:09 GMT -5 natsnow said:

agreed. The urgent care can't do much for you, other than get xrays and say, yep, it's not broken. If it doesn't get better then you should see an orthopedic doc.

y'all love urgent care up in here. lol.

But they might be able to give her some pain meds to help her get through the day.

That's true, but I feel like anti-inflammatories usually help more in this kind of situation.

[dexteroni]

Based on the level of pain you're describing, I would give it a couple hours' rest, maybe ice it*, and see if anything changes. If it doesn't, or if it gets worse, or if you can't bear even this level of pain for that long, then I would definitely go in. But I might go to an actual ER where they can do an MRI if that's what you need.

*I never know whether ice or heat is best and always have to google it. I think it would be ice in this situation, but if you're going to do anything, and you're unsure like me, definitely google it first. I don't want to give advice that will make it worse.

[ilovelamp]

Well I'm not sure how much help we are lol. Mixed votes FTW.

I say go to urgent care. At least they can give you some pain meds (if you need/want then), and can give you a referral.

[VillainV]

Ice and Advil. You can take up to 800mg of Advil, up to 4 times a day (not indefinitely, but you know, for short-term injuries). Take it. It will reduce the inflammation. Ice 15 minutes at a time, maybe every two hours. Yeah, it will numb the pain, but it will also help the inflammation. Otherwise, stay off it and keep it elevated. Wrap with an ace wrap if you need extra support while you walk around the house (this will also keep inflammation down).

If it still hurts in 48 hours, then go to urgent care or make an appointment to get into see your doctor.

[meganew]

Thanks guys! I'm at home now- it hurts way worse when I go from sitting to standing. Or bending or unbending. Or just moving it in general. Lol. But, it's not that bad if I'm standing on it straight perfectly still! Eh? That's something!

My H is getting ice, I'm going to take a tylenol and sit on the couch and rest while my kid watches The Lion King for the 87th time this weekend and hopefully it'll feel a little better in a bit.

I'm definitely going to follow up with my dr though because I've been meaning to see a sports medicine dr about my joints for about, oh, 3 years now. I've always just been so worried that they'd tell me to stop running that I'd wimp out and never go. See? Stubborn asshole.

My H hates me.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

You have a stress fracture, honey. Boooo

[natsnow]

I'm just going to put this out there so you're not disappointed: they probably won't do an MRI at the ER either. You'll most likely need to schedule it outpatient through your primary or orthopedic dr.

[meganew]

Sept 29, 2013 9:12:08 GMT -5 ProfessorArtNerd said:

You have a stress fracture, honey. Boooo

Huh. I had a stress fracture in my shoulder in high school, and this is actually what it felt like. Just in a different part of my body.

[VillainV]

Sept 29, 2013 9:11:12 GMT -5 meganew said:

Thanks guys! I'm at home now- it hurts way worse when I go from sitting to standing. Or bending or unbending. Or just moving it in general. Lol. But, it's not that bad if I'm standing on it straight perfectly still! Eh? That's something!

My H is getting ice, I'm going to take a tylenol and sit on the couch and rest while my kid watches The Lion King for the 87th time this weekend and hopefully it'll feel a little better in a bit.

I'm definitely going to follow up with my dr though because I've been meaning to see a sports medicine dr about my joints for about, oh, 3 years now. I've always just been so worried that they'd tell me to stop running that I'd wimp out and never go. See? Stubborn asshole.

My H hates me.

Advil or Motrin are better than tylenol. You want ibuprofen, not acetaminophen (which is what's in tylenol).

[Shreddingbetty]

Don't bother going to urgent care. Unless you think you broke something they are not going to do anything really. Ice the hell out of it and keep it elevated. Don't bother with Tylenol, it is not an anti-inflammatory. Get ibuprofen 800 mg every 6 hours for the next 2-3 days. It may be a stress fracture or a meniscus tear (is it locking at all?). None of these things need immediate treatment. Give it 2 - 3 days and then if it isn't improving much then go see your regular doc.
FWIW I broke my foot in the middle of the night on a Satruday morning. I put a bag of ice on it took ibuprofen and went back to bed.  In the morning we called the ER to talk to the orthopedist on call (DH is a doc so he could easily do that) since I was pretty sure it was broken. He basically told me to get crutches and stay off of it, ice it and take ibuprofen and to see them on Monday. When it is that swollen they can't do anything for it anyway .
If you want to be on the safe side you can always rent crutches and stay off of it for a couple of days but I wouldn't waste time on urgent care

[meganew]

Sept 29, 2013 9:21:33 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Sept 29, 2013 9:11:12 GMT -5 meganew said:

Thanks guys! I'm at home now- it hurts way worse when I go from sitting to standing. Or bending or unbending. Or just moving it in general. Lol. But, it's not that bad if I'm standing on it straight perfectly still! Eh? That's something!

My H is getting ice, I'm going to take a tylenol and sit on the couch and rest while my kid watches The Lion King for the 87th time this weekend and hopefully it'll feel a little better in a bit.

I'm definitely going to follow up with my dr though because I've been meaning to see a sports medicine dr about my joints for about, oh, 3 years now. I've always just been so worried that they'd tell me to stop running that I'd wimp out and never go. See? Stubborn asshole.

My H hates me.

Advil or Motrin are better than tylenol. You want ibuprofen, not acetaminophen (which is what's in tylenol).

Oh yeah, duh. I have trouble remembering which is which.

[VillainV]

Sept 29, 2013 9:25:24 GMT -5 meganew said:

Sept 29, 2013 9:21:33 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Advil or Motrin are better than tylenol. You want ibuprofen, not acetaminophen (which is what's in tylenol).

Oh yeah, duh. I have trouble remembering which is which.

Unless you're pregnant!  You're not, are you?  If you're pregnant, then NO IBUPROFEN!!

[meganew]

Sept 29, 2013 9:31:07 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Sept 29, 2013 9:25:24 GMT -5 meganew said:

Oh yeah, duh. I have trouble remembering which is which.

Unless you're pregnant!  You're not, are you?  If you're pregnant, then NO IBUPROFEN!!

Lol, no! No no. No no noooooo. Haha

[ohiowan]

There are a lot of things that it could be, tendonitis, stress fracture, runner's knee, etc. RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. And take something for it. Try to still do some bends with it. If it's swollen and you just let it sit, it's going to hurt to move it if you're not trying to bend it or anything. If it's unbearable tomorrow, make an appointment. You don't want to hear this...but they might tell you to postpone the marathon.

[isabel]

Sept 29, 2013 8:56:03 GMT -5 meganew said:

Oh, and this is different than its usual aches- it's painful to touch. It's the outside of my knee and if I try to touch it, I see stars. Omg.

Have you ever had issues with your IT bands? I had something last year that sounds very similar. I was playing in a soccer game and went in for a tackle. I came out of it thinking I had torn my ACL. It hurt so badly and I couldn't put weight on my leg for a couple of days. I ended up seeing a sports therapist who basically said that my IT band was so tight that it was tugging on other ligaments in my knee. The hit I took did something to the pressure to make it hurt like it did. We did a lot of massage and electro stimulation, as well as some trigger point needles to help release muscle tension. It took a few weeks to get back to normal, but I would say I was able to return to normal activity (albeit still somewhat painful) within a week.

I don't urgent care can do anything for you. I would wait a couple of days and see how it progresses. If it's still really bad, you might consider seeing a sports medicine doctor and getting an MRI. In the meantime, ice, ice, ice, and take ibuprofen. Try rubbing out your IT band or foam rolling on something really soft (like a rolled up towel) to see if that helps relieve any of the pain. 

ETA: What you're describing with the pain being worse when bending/unbending or going from sitting to standing is exactly when my pain was the worst. This all sounds very familiar.

[pooh8402]

Sept 29, 2013 8:53:30 GMT -5 MWOS said:

personally, I wouldn't go to urgent care. You don't have a broken bone, it's something soft tissue related. I'd ice the shit out of it and take anti-inflammatories. If it's this bad tomorrow where you can't walk, I'd go to my regular doctor or if at all possible, a sports medicine dr.

This.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[meganew]

Sept 29, 2013 15:39:09 GMT -5 isabel said:

Sept 29, 2013 8:56:03 GMT -5 meganew said:

Oh, and this is different than its usual aches- it's painful to touch. It's the outside of my knee and if I try to touch it, I see stars. Omg.

Have you ever had issues with your IT bands? I had something last year that sounds very similar. I was playing in a soccer game and went in for a tackle. I came out of it thinking I had torn my ACL. It hurt so badly and I couldn't put weight on my leg for a couple of days. I ended up seeing a sports therapist who basically said that my IT band was so tight that it was tugging on other ligaments in my knee. The hit I took did something to the pressure to make it hurt like it did. We did a lot of massage and electro stimulation, as well as some trigger point needles to help release muscle tension. It took a few weeks to get back to normal, but I would say I was able to return to normal activity (albeit still somewhat painful) within a week.

I don't urgent care can do anything for you. I would wait a couple of days and see how it progresses. If it's still really bad, you might consider seeing a sports medicine doctor and getting an MRI. In the meantime, ice, ice, ice, and take ibuprofen. Try rubbing out your IT band or foam rolling on something really soft (like a rolled up towel) to see if that helps relieve any of the pain. 

ETA: What you're describing with the pain being worse when bending/unbending or going from sitting to standing is exactly when my pain was the worst. This all sounds very familiar.

Thank you so much! I've never even heard of IT bands, but hopefully that's what it is since it sounds like something I can manage.

[isabel]

meganew, are you feeling better at all today?

If you haven't already, do a google search for 'IT band foam rolling' and give that a shot with a rolled up towel. I would not be at all shocked if doing that is very painful. If it is, I think you have a good chance at recovering quickly with a lot of stretching and massage from a sports therapist.

[meganew]

Sept 30, 2013 14:40:56 GMT -5 isabel said:

meganew, are you feeling better at all today?

If you haven't already, do a google search for 'IT band foam rolling' and give that a shot with a rolled up towel. I would not be at all shocked if doing that is very painful. If it is, I think you have a good chance at recovering quickly with a lot of stretching and massage from a sports therapist.

Thanks! I'm still in some pain- enough that I can't walk up and down the stairs normally, sitting to standing- basically the same as yesterday. Ugh. I have an appointment on Thursday morning, but I'll give that a shot after the kiddo goes to bed!

[snickers]

Sept 29, 2013 8:56:03 GMT -5 meganew said:

Oh, and this is different than its usual aches- it's painful to touch. It's the outside of my knee and if I try to touch it, I see stars. Omg.

I would go to urgent care, I hope you are feeling better soon.
ETA: I am stunned and didn't realize this was an old thread.

I hope they offer you some answers on Thursday!