what's wrong with my knee?? plz help

[glamourgirlxox]

Hello.  I have been a bit worried about my left knee for a couple of weeks now.  I do not know what is wrong with it.  I am an exotic dancer and I tend to do a lot of floorwork and the bad thing is that we have a wooden stage with no give to it.  I think I injured my knee from the floor work.  The inside of my left knee is swollen.  It is a bit to the right of my kneecap. It feels like the bone is swollen or something, idk though. Its not very big, but it worries me. My question is; how do you know if its water-on-the-knee or if it is just swollen and inflammed? It was a tiny bit black and blue when I first noticed it but now it is not.  I don't really want to go to the doctor since I do not have insurance.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jathib]

There's no way to know what's wrong with it without seeing a doctor.

[rozzzie]

Try a week of RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation)  Ice for 20 Min at a time not more than once an hour with your knee above your heart and your foot above the knee.  use and elastic knee brace if you want.  After 4or 5 days  if your knee is not getting better or your or pain develops or gets worse then I think you need to see a doctor.

Water on the knee is pretty much the same as swollen and that wouldn't happen if there wasn't some inflammation or injury to the knee.

Good luck

[Doc79316]

Hi,

Rozzzie is right. You should try RICE in the first instance as if you haven't done too much damage it may well heal up of it's own accord.

You mention that it was black and blue so I'm assuming there was some bruising there. You can probably assume that there is at least a little inflammation but the problem with knees is that because we use them all the time, they don't often get the time to recover from injury.

If after a week it's no better, or if the pain gets dramatically worse for no apparent reason, then you should definitely see a doctor.

Take care,

Laura x

[OldCoot]

Some things we do can cause the knee cap to be pulled to one side or the other and when that happens it gets very irritated and hurts like heck, I know all to well. The back of the knee cap is a sort of V shape and it must be centered in it's seat on the knee or it gets real irritated and sore riding on one side more than the other.  I went to the orthopedic surgeon who took an Xray and told me that was my problem and sent me to a PT clinic where they showed me exercises I could do at home to get the knee cap back in the middle where it should be. Gave me a big rubber band to use during my exercises and I did what they said and sure enough in a week or so the pain went away.  I'm not saying that is your problem and like another reply said the only way to be sure is to see an orthopedist who deals with knee and joint pains.

A cortisone injection would help relieve the irritation while you are doing the exercises and you could probably continue to dance, but take it very easy on the knees! For goodness sake, go see an orthopedist pronto because continuing to dance could be complicating your problem.