Lateral Knee Pain

Actually

 

'Old Age'

 

I am soooo upset... and feel soooo stupid... I just sat there and listened to words such as 'arthritis' and 'degenerative'......

 

I agree... there may be some degenerative damage present NOW, over 8 years since the injury, but very likely not at the time of the injury. At the time of the injury I was slim and fit and active, 8 years younger, and never still. I had had two jobs, one full-time and one part-time, for most of my adult life. I weighed less than 8 stone. My leisure life was full of home DIY tasks; decorating; gardening, including growing vegetables; car maintenance; housework; cooking; parenting, including taxi service; coping with elderly relatives; university courses; etc.. 

 

There are very few things that I really know about this injury:

• I know for sure that my foot slapped down BEFORE the violent, violent, violent pain in my knee.

• I have been told that the tear in the lateral meniscus was a radial tear.

• I have been told that there is a small area of Grade 4 Chondromalacia in the medial part of my knee.

 

I know that I have two problem areas in my right leg:

1. the ankle,

2. the knee,

and possibly, 3. my groin / hip too...

 

 

Why? and What? Questions

 

1. I don't know 'why' the lateral meniscus tore...

2. I don't know 'why' there was Grade 4 Chondromalacia...

3. I don't know 'why' there is still joint tenderness and additional pain over the fibular head in the lateral side of my right knee... after an arthroscopic procedure on the radial tear in the lateral meniscus...

4. I don't know 'what' is wrong with my ankle such that my foot slaps down...

5. I don't know 'why' everyone thinks that my knee is stable, except me...!

 

 

Facts about the Inury

 

I know that I was jogging in the Summer of 2006. (This is currently over 8 years ago.)

 

I know something happened to my right foot such that it 'slapped' down onto the ground as I was jogging.

 

I know that I did a further two steps with my right foot slapping down on the ground. (Why didn't I stop jogging? There was no pain, I had no reason to stop!)

 

I know that I experienced a violent, violent, violent pain in the lateral side of my right knee after my right foot was slapping down on the ground.

 

I was told that the violent, violent, violent pain was probably the lateral meniscus tearing.

 

I was told that the tear in my lateral meniscus was a 'radial' tear. (A radial tear is "commonly" the result of trauma, not always, but most times. Usually, according to research literature, 'horizontal' and 'longitudinal' tears are thought to be 'degenerative' tears.)

 

I was told that there was Grade 4 Chondromalacia. (Grade 4 Chondromalacia is the last stage before 'bone on bone' contact. Research suggests that with wear and tear over time, a meniscal tear may result in damage to the articular cartilage of the femur and chondromalacia.)

 

I know that there was medial pain in my right knee, pre-arthroscopy. (I discovered this fact during a local ultrasound investigation into lateral, right knee pathology. The doctor also passed the ultrasound input device over the medial side of my right knee which elicited a major pain that I had not experienced before. I was not told what this might be, but I assumed that it might be arthritis.)

 

I know that the pain in the medial side of my good, left knee feels the same as the medial pain in my right knee. (I have had medial pain in my good, left knee for maybe some 5+ years now, which I have assumed is arthritis, and may be the result of my good leg having to do most of the weight-bearing when I am standing or walking, in the absence of much help from my right leg.)

 

I know that the joint tenderness and additional pain over the fibular head in the lateral side of my right knee was recognised before the arthroscopy, and is still present, post-arthroscopy, and still now over a year later.

 

 

Post-Gait Training Exercises

 

I have been told that the pain in my bad, right knee is arthritis, mainly I think because I said that the pain may even be present when I am doing nothing at all.

 

This may be true of the medial side because the pain there feels similar to that on the medial side of my good, left knee which is often painful, having had an exceptional amount of work to do supporting my body-weight with very little help from its contralateral comrade. But I cannot agree that the pain, or all of the pain over the lateral side of my knee, nor at its back, is arthritic in nature. It is not the same sort of pain as that over the medial side.

 

I have suspected for some time that I have arthritis in my good, left leg, along the medial side of the knee. This intermittent pain is very similar, if not the same as that which I felt in the medial side of my bad, right leg during an ultrasound investigation. Whilst looking for any pathology in the lateral side of my bad, right knee, the doctor also passed the input device firmly over the medial side. This produced was a sharp, stabbing pain that seemed to be moving from the inside of my knee to the outside. I thought at the time that this pain along the medial side of my bad, right knee might be arthritis because it seemed to me to be the same as that in the good, left leg, yet totally different to that on the lateral side of the bad, right knee.

 

The pain on the lateral side of my bad, right knee is intermittent and greatly varied, but does not include sharp, stabbing pains in its repertoire, but rather pulling or catching and throbbing. It can be down most of the lateral length of my shin bone, and across the lateral side of the back of my knee down towards the calf muscles. And I still have tenderness over the lateral knee joint, along with additional pain over the point of the fibular head. These are known issues indicating possible posterolateral corner and/or proximal tibiofibular joint problems. They are also suggestive of a lateral meniscus tear... Yes, there was a tear, but that has been repaired by debridement... yet the symptoms are still there...

 

I was asked if there was any improvement in my knee pain after the arthroscopy to debride the radial tear in the lateral meniscus. And 'No' there has been no improvement in that regard. There has been some minor improvement in that there are fewer feelings of  'things' moving around under my patella but that is likely due to the scrapping of debris from beneath the kneecap. And the sensitivity over most of the lateral side of my knee when brushed lightly with my hand that occurred before the arthroscopy has not returned.

 

I was told that there didn't seem to be a second meniscal tear. Well, I didn't think that there would be. I am still of the opinion that the radial tear to the lateral meniscus was a consquence of some dysfunction and not the 'cause', and which is still present. This is particularly worrying for me because if the 'cause' of the tear to the lateral meniscus is still there, then is it possible that this may then result in another meniscal tear? So the question is what else has the same symptoms as a radial, lateral meniscus tear?