[supershorty628]

I seriously feel like a 90-year-old fragile person. Dropped a pen the other day and squatted to pick it up - no big deal. My knees normally pop when I bend down, so noise is fairly expected, but this time, it HURT. Felt like something slipped, there was a pop and then a SNAP sound, and it swelled up and bruised fairly quickly. It's now the end of the day after I initially did this and I still have swelling and bruising with stiffness and a funny weak feeling in that knee when I'm on stairs and such. It almost feels like it hurts under my kneecap - that's the best way I can think of to describe it.

Thoughts? I'm thinking if it doesn't resolve itself within a few days, I might have to go get it checked out, but it just seems so weird and silly that all I did was squat to pick something up...

[fooler]

Tore the meniscus in my left knee squatting up/standing up while painting lawn jockey about 10 years ago. Understand it is common in females after 40 or so. Good news is with surgery and rehab so far so good.

[monday]

I totally sympathize, but I hate to say that is very similar to how I tore my meniscus, leading to surgery. I was sitting on my floor reaching for a pair of flip flops that had gotten pushed under my dresser. No weird movements, just a sudden pop and really bad pain. It was so bad for a few moments I thought I was going to hurl, but within several hours it was down to just normal pain. An MRI later and I ended up having 50% of meniscus shaved off. At least it is all better now.

Hopefully yours is not so serious, but if it persists get it checked out! It is so embarrassing to admit I hurt myself reaching for a pair of flip flops.

[Wayside]

My understanding is that squatting with a twisting motion is one of the more common causes of meniscal tears. I've had two of those, and both times it felt similiar to what you're describing.

[Calvincrowe]

I'd suggest a trip to an orthopedic doctor--knees are nothing to mess around with and acute pain with swelling is usually a good reason to seek medical advice. As a three surgery on one knee veteran, I hope you go in soon!

[supershorty628]

Rats, I was hoping someone would enable me when it comes to putting it off!! I'll keep icing it and try to get in to see someone next week. I'm in the middle of exams, so this is bad timing.

[Murphy's Mom]

Could be a meniscus tear (hope not!) or could be a dislocated kneecap. I dislocate my left kneecap on a regular basis (last time the end of September when a rearing miniature horse I was heading for went over backwards while we were hitching a team and she flipped me over the top of her). It gets really sore and swells somewhat. Can't do stairs but can walk up steep hills or ramps without too much of a problem. Can barely walk when I first get out of a chair but five minutes later it's not so bad. When it goes back in (just last week when I was laying in bed and stretched real tall) it makes a "pop", hurts a bit, then feels much better and I can walk normal again.

[2DogsFarm]

OK - I can enable you.
I tore my meniscus and like yours, initially it left me lame for nearly a month.
Going up or down stairs was truly agonizing.
I got a brace and used cold therapy when it was worst.
I'm stubborn and didn't see an orthopod for almost 2 months.
MRI showed the tear, but MD told me surgery could be put off.
Since he mentioned the possibilty of needing crutches for 4-6wks post-surgery, I opted to wait.
It was the middle of Winter, no way I could do chores on crutches.
And now - 3 years later - it doesn't bother me at all.

My advice is go see a doctor and find out how bad your tear is, then decide how to go.
The Good News is the surgery can be done arthroscopically and may not require any hospitalization. Doc even told me some patients walk out sans crutches.The
Bad News is the tear will not just go away or repair itself.
I have no idea why mine seems to have fixed itself, but aside from some OldLady creakiness in the morning (and I AM old, so no surprise), no problem here at all.

[jump4me]

Ditto 2Dogs- almost. I never had an MRI, but Dr told me same thing, I could have the surgery done, or if I can live with the knee I can wait till it either really bothers me or something worse happens that I Need surgery.
I am close to 10 YEARS out from injury, happened when I was 14, am now 23.
Yeah, it hurts. Some times more than others. I know I will need the surgery eventually, as it is bothering me a lot more (and more often) now than before.

[fordtraktor]

On the optimistic side -- I did almost this exact thing a month ago. I couldn't straigthen my knee or put weight on it. I was amazed as I'd just been on my knees wiping up a toddler juice spill and stood up -- that was it. The ortho thought I tore the meniscus but when he forced my knee down it kind of popped back and went from excruciating/nonweightbearing to just sore, then was pretty much fine after another day. Hope the same happens for you! The best the ortho could guess was that the edge of the cartilage folded over somehow. Much better than a tear.

[supershorty628]

Thanks for all the replies so far. It's getting worse as the days go on - today it's sufficiently stiff and weird feeling that I have it propped up so it's got about a 25 degree angle in the knee. Not super painful, but this strange unstable feeling that's almost nauseating.

I have to get it through at least a few more days, but I'm starting to think that my regimen of ice, resting it, and vetwrap is not doing the trick

[lovey1121]

Sounds like my meniscal tear. I was so busy prepping for a houseful of Christmas guests that I don't know when it happened. Surgery didn't help me much. I'll never run up or down stairs again. Sucks.

I hope yours is less serious, and that you have a better orthopaedist than I did.

[Bacardi1]

Thanks for all the replies so far. It's getting worse as the days go on - today it's sufficiently stiff and weird feeling that I have it propped up so it's got about a 25 degree angle in the knee. Not super painful, but this strange unstable feeling that's almost nauseating.

I have to get it through at least a few more days, but I'm starting to think that my regimen of ice, resting it, and vetwrap is not doing the trick

Sorry, but having been there/done that, you need to get yourself to a doctor - or even the ER - asap. The longer you wait does NOT make this better. In fact, it can make it worse & more difficult to fix in the long run. You really can't "get it through a few more days" & you're just making things worse with your home regimen of "ice, resting it, & vetwrap". The "vetwrap" is particularly disturbing.

Nothing is more important than your health. Period. If you can't get a doctor's appt. within a day or so, get yourself to the ER.

[Hunter Mom]

My mother tore hers standing up from a chair. It happens. She had scope surgery and was fine after.

[indygirl2560]

Welcome to the torn meniscus club

I tore my meniscus four years ago and still haven't done anything for it, (though I'm having surgery in December). I went to several doctors after the initial injury, (when my knee was swollen up like a grapefruit), and all claimed something was just tweaked and nothing serious, even after looking at the MRI. Eventually the swelling went down, but would flair up if I tried to do anything more than short walks. I had to take time off from riding just to be able to walk afterwords. My leg would seize up in pain or give out several times a day. I have a high pain tolerance and just learned to deal with it since those doctors had told me nothing serious was wrong. It was difficult to accept the fact I couldn't do anything physical besides ride. Looking back now, I feel stupid for not listening to my body and trusting my gut that something was indeed wrong.

Recently the pain got really bad again. Since I switched insurances, I figure why not try out some new docs? Well surprise! I have a medial meniscus and there's so much scar tissue now, all they can do is trim around it and try to smooth things out.

Moral of the story, get it checked out now or you could be doing irreversible damage to your knee! Get as many different physician opinions as you can and trust your gut.

[JumpQH]

My mom tore her meniscus getting out of bed. I took her to the ER, she got the surgery, and was fine!

[BuddyRoo]

It sounds like you've had crepitus (the popping when you bend) already which could indicate that you've already got some floaters and such in your knee. you might have even had a partial tear in the past and then it got stuck/flapped over causing you discomfort. Simple arthroscopy to remove torn meniscus and/or accompanying floating debris isn't a long recovery in most cases IF you take care of it right away. I've done it twice on each knee. Get thee to the vet for evaluation!

Now, with regards to hurting yourself doing seemingly harmless things?

I partially tore my rotator cuff when I was in college while PUTTING ON MY SEATBELT. Yep. At least with my knees, it was a semi-cool story--got hurt while playing soccer. Much less cool to tell people you did it putting on your seatbelt. And don't even get me started on what I looked like having my then boyfriend do my hair each morning because I had no use of my arm. LOL

I've also managed to throw out my back bending over to tie my shoes. I mean sitting on the bed squarely and bending over.

It happens. Hope you feel better soon.

[fordtraktor]

Yep, definitely get in right away. I'd go straight to a good ortho if your insurance will let you. If you beg they might get you in tomorrow.

until they can get you in I would keep the vetwrap on it. I wrapped mine using my mad horsewrapping skillz and the ortho greatly admired my handiwork and approved. Use a LOT of ice in the meantime and keep it propped up. Hoping for good news for you.

[KBC]

Had torn meniscus trimmed in both knees, the first one was a great job, no issues at all now, the second one, still early days, but still hurts a bit, in both cases the surgery was worth it. The longer you leave it the more chance you have of doing more damage, at least if you have it checked out you will know if you have to deal with it now or later.

[supershorty628]

I'm going to call an orthopedist tomorrow. I'm super lucky in that my university has a fantastic medical school, so there are a lot of resources available to me that way. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, going to continue icing and wrapping.