I am reading several different postings about people with knee pains, but not seeing what I am feeling. After running Sunday I felt the best I had felt after running and I was pretty excited that my knees had not acted up. I did come home after running and mow the lawn though (about a fifth of an acre). I iced my knees after running and then again after mowing the lawn because they were so tender. However, two days later my knee feels almost worse. I went out to do my run tonight, made it about two steps before wincing and realized that today was a day that I needed to walk. There is swelling on the inside of my left knee and there are stabbing pains coming from it. It hurts incredibly bad if I try to crouch down or put all of my weight on it. I was going to make an appointment with the chiropractors and massage therapists I spoke to at Vancouver Fit last weekend, but now I am wondering if I should go to my knee doctor or my orthopedic surgeon.

I am 5'3", 150 pounds and 27 years old.
There is no bruising on the external, but definitely some swelling.
I have had three surgeries on my left knee (lateral release, medial tighten, and then my entire knee cap was moved and screwed down in place because it didn't track straight -- the right knee had the first and last surgery as well).

Any advice on who I should see to figure out what the pain is from? It is starting to interfere with day to day activity.

Thanks!

ZagMama,
I am sorry to hear about your troubles. Is it just your left knee, or is the right painful too? Is there any pain at rest while not moving, like when you are in bed at night?

My initial guess is that the pain is a result of pes anserine tendonitis. This tendon is the major attachment for your medial hamstring muscles. It can become inflamed when the hamstring are to tight and over worked, if there is a leg length discrepancy, or if there is laxity in the ligaments in the knee. Keep up the ice and rest for the moment. Stop by the 360 PT tent and talk to Ike, he will be able to diagnose the issue. If you can stop by the Clearwater tent on Saturday we could take a look at the issue before Sunday. With your past history of surgery, it may be a good idea to have everything checked out before you head out on any more of the long walk/runs.

I hope you are feeling better.
Dr Jake

Both of my knees are hurting, but the right is more severe. It does hurt when I am in bed at night. Trying to find a comfortable position to sleep is getting more difficult. If I straighten or bend too much or if pressure is on a certain spot it is quite painful. I went to the doctor today and she said to take it easier on my knee for a few weeks and if it doesn't feel better she would order an MRI. I will definitely talk to Ike on Sunday and I will be walking until it feels better

Thanks,
Rose

Rose,
After speaking with you on Saturday, there is defenitly some pes anserine irritation. Some ultrasound-stim combo at the swollen area would be helpful, as would breaking up the c-sect scar tissue so that the abdominals would stop recruiting the sartorius muscle on the front of the quad, thereby decreasing the tension in the knee tendons. (Wow! Everything is connected.) I am still a little worried about the possibility of a meniscus irritation. If the symptoms persist and MRI would be advised.

Cheers,
Dr Jake

Thanks Jake. I was really glad that I came down and talked to you and Bryan on Saturday so that I could decide what to do for Sunday. There is definitely still some swelling, but I was able to complete the 6 mile walk on Sunday without pain. I have had some fleeting pains out of nowhere, but it wasn't leading to a limp or for me to not want to walk on it at all like last week. I will keep paying close attention to how it is feeling, and continue to ice it and take it easier than I was. I am going to call my doctor tomorrow and see about getting a referral for some PT for the ultrasound (found out that chiropractors in Washington can't do ultrasound -- I had no idea!). Thank you so much for your help! Hopefully this is just craziness from my c-section and nothing with the meniscus, but I'll be careful.