I hate my knee, it's killing me!

[sarahabee082]

I'm new to this, so please bear with me...

About 5 weeks ago, I fractured my upper medial femoral condyle (or something like that...). The inner knee bone, bottom of the femur. The OS gave me a knee immobilizer, told me no surgery necessary, no cast necessary, all very good news. Things have been okay up to this point, but now he says it's time to try and get some range of motion back. He told me to get on an exercise bike, and start with the seat fairly high. He's crazy!!! I've never felt such pain in my life! The eliptical doesn't bother me, and neither do stairs, if I do them slow.  My leg doesn't bother me to walk, but I can't completely straighten it, and can barely get it to bend to a 90 degree angle before crying in pain. There's also some swelling/fatty tissue stuff all around the knee cap, except at the top below the thigh.

So my question is: Has anyone had a similar injury? And if so, how long did the healing process take? Is it supposed to hurt this much to do simple exercises? How was your experience? Do you still have problems with it? Any limp? This is my first fracture/break, and I'm terrified!

[Linds]

Hi and welcome to  kneegeeks, wish you didn't need to be here... :-/

Check out the section on the forum called bone breaks around the knee.  There might be more information for you there.
Have you thought about going to a physiotherapist to work on your rehab. Might be helpful... they can tell you exactly what you should be doing and what not.
I have never had your injury, but i've had surgery on both of my knees, and the exercise bike is where they usually start me one week after surgery and I can tell you it's pretty painful, after your knee has been immobilized for any length of time the muscles and tendons start to shorten and everything gets' a little tight. It's important to get that range of motion back but you might feel better doing it under the watchful eye of a physiotherapist.
Goodluck and take care
Hugs
Linds