As an active athlete or competitor, you are aware that severe knee injuries are most common. 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 serious knee injury.

 

1. Swollen Knee

Swelling in the knee immediately or shortly following an injury is a frequent sign that suggests you may have sustained a severe knee injury. Oftentimes, the swelling is because of blood. The bleeding will stop, but the swelling will probably remain. Blood at the joint is called a hemarthrosis. Blood in the knee joint can lead to a lot of pain because of inflammation. Bleeding is usually as a result of something inside the knee .

Common causes of swelling following a serious knee injury include:

• A tear of the ACL
• Patella or kneecap dislocation
• A meniscus tear: especially a Bucket-Handle Tear.
• An MCL tear
• Injury to the articular cartilage.

Patella (kneecap) dislocations are more common than you might imagine. All of you fear an ACL tear. Most dislocated kneecaps will decrease spontaneously on the field. That usually means that the kneecap will return into place on its own. Since patella dislocations are such a common sports injury we composed this post to go into much more detail about them.

With any of the aforementioned issues, most of you may find it very hard to walk without acute knee pain. Crutches, icing, and elevation are valuable in these cases. These knee joint injuries need to be evaluated to get an X-ray. Fractures are less frequent, but they do occur. Not many knee injuries will need a brace unless you want to use it for relaxation. The most important reason for seeing a sports medicine doctor after an injury that causes swelling is to look for these most common severe injuries.

A number of these severe knee joint injuries should be assessed sooner instead of later. The initial treatment will be a trusted examination to arrive at a diagnosis, which will be followed using an MRI to confirm the diagnosis.

 

2. Locked Knee

In the event that you needed a knee injury and you aren’t able to fully straighten the leg, you may have a”locked knee.” A locked knee is simply a knee that may not completely straighten. There are different reasons a locked knee may occur. In some patients, swelling and swelling can stop you from fully straightening the knee. In others, a meniscus tear has flipped to the center of the joint and can be causing mechanical locking. You can’t sew it together with the meniscus in that position.

Many athletes that have a locked knee may also find it rather painful to flex the knee too. They may feel sharp knee pain when bending which can occur when these bucket handle meniscus tears move.

The most common cause of a locked knee is a unique meniscus tear known as a bucket handle tear. A bucket handle tear is considered a severe knee injury and will require surgery to repair or fix the tear. The reason these rips are severe is that a large bit of the meniscus tears flips again and becomes trapped in the center of the knee joint. You want that meniscus to protect the knee. The huge majority of bucket-handle tears can be repaired. So the earlier we begin the treatment process, the greater the outcome could be following a meniscus repair.

Though we discuss bucket handle tears here. Not all of locked knees will be found to have a bucket handle tear. In athletes, a flap tear, or different types of meniscus tears normally happen. These types of tears are also necessary to identify early on. Most bucket handle tears are repairable. The skillet handle shouldn’t be removed from the knee, if at all possible. These rips, which trigger a locked knee, are frequently very large. If the piece is removed rather than repaired, then you have a significant prospect of developing osteoarthritis. These bucket handle tears do not require emergency operation, but they’re pressing, and you need to see a sports medicine doctor if you feel like something is preventing you from bending your knee all the way.

 

3. A Knee Pop

Most ACL tears and patella dislocations happen out of a twisting, non-contact injury. A normal story is that you were turning or turning hard, and you felt a pop. As I mentioned previously, most patella dislocations will decrease or go back into their usual place by themselves. But in case your patella remains dislocated the knee will probably appear strange.

If you felt or heard a loud pop up as you twisted or turned to prevent another participant, then you might have torn your ACL. Additional causes of popping include a patella or kneecap dislocation. Should you felt or heard a loud pop in your knee, then there’s a strong chance that you have a severe knee injury. Many ACL injuries and patella dislocations are non-contact accidents. A running back turning to head upfield. A striker moving laterally to steer clear of the defence. These are recognisable stories once we see high school and college athletes that have torn their ACL.

Yet again, another widespread severe knee injury after a loud pop is a patella dislocation. They’re more common than most people believe. Everyone else has heard of an ACL tear, but most are unaware that the patella or kneecap can dislocate. Most patella dislocations will reduce or return into place. That means that the patella was only dislocated for a second or two. Patients using a patella dislocation frequently need an MRI to see if you injured the cartilage on the patella as it dislocated. Surgery to repair the patella ligaments is usually not mandatory for an initial dislocation. This informative article provides more info about patella dislocations.

 

4. Severe Weakness

Severe weakness when attempting to straighten the knee even a few days after the injury, could signify that you suffered a severe tendon injury. Common causes of weakness comprise patella dislocations, patella tendon tears, and quadriceps tendon tears. Patella tendon and quadriceps tendon tears aren’t common in childhood or collegiate sports, but we will observe a few of them every year.

If you’re over 35 and felt a loud pop in your knee when pushing off through tennis, or basketball then you need to consider that you have severely injured your patella or quadriceps tendon(s).

Following an injury to one of these big critically significant joints, you will realize that the knee will feel shaky. You may believe the knee is not able to support your weight without giving way. You should be immediately evaluated by a Sports Medicine doctor to find out the sort of injury you had. Both quadriceps and patella tendon injuries require surgery to repair these big essential tendons.

Patella dislocations happen mostly in younger athletes. Many patella dislocations happen when the knee is bent, the athlete is twisting, and then they are struck on the interior side of the knee. The patella will usually snap back into position, but the damage is done. Any guessed patellar dislocation should be evaluated by a sports medicine physician since patella dislocations may cause injuries to the cartilage or the ligaments that hold the patella in place.

 

5. Difficulty In Walking

Obviously, many knee injuries ensure it is painful and difficult to walk. For people with acute knee injuries, it is usually very difficult or even impossible to walk. You will often need crutches. Anyone who is placed on crutches must be considered to have a significant knee injury until an Orthopaedic Surgeon evaluates you. In many of these cases, a pressing X-ray is useful to rule out a fracture when the athlete cannot put any weight on the knee.

Things to look for if you’re worried that you might have a significant knee injury.

• Your knee is swollen
• Your knee is closed and won’t straighten
• You have a significant weakness when trying to straighten the knee.
• You have persistent difficulty walking or placing weight on your leg.

Knee injuries are common across all sport. Most knee injuries are mild, and the athlete can expect to come back to perform relatively soon. Identifying the severe or serious knee injuries and acting quickly can make all the difference when it comes to getting you back in the game and minimising your risk of additional damage.