Tear in knee...any guesses? Have had poor luck w/MRIs in past...

[Scott J]

Hi all...about 2 weeks ago I ran up a flight of stairs and as I reached the top I felt a strange pain in my left knee, presumably a tear of the soft tissue of some kind.  Since then my knee has been slightly swollen, painful when I go up or down stairs, it's difficult to run, and sometimes the joint feels unstable and I stagger slightly.  There is no bad consistent pain (thankfully) and the discomfort that's there occurs only in the situations I just mentioned. 

  Can anyone take an educated guess as to what I might've damaged? 

  I've iced it, babied it, wore a brace, etc. but the situation has not gone away or improved as I was hoping so I think I did some permanent damage of some sort...

  I anticipate going to my regular doctor when I get home from vacation but in the past I've mad mixed results w/physicians, up to and including an unnecessary surgery on my other knee due to a poor diagnosis.

[Scott J]

guess this is a tough one as no one has replied....i'm still on vacation and still have intermittent pain and joint instability.  I've been trolling the web looking to see what I can find out about my probable tear and it's symptoms but i haven't found anything obviously similar.  If anyone can suggest what I might have torn in my knee area when I ran up a flight of stairs I would appreciate the input.  I still have some knee pain when i walk up or down stairs and the joint has minor swelling and some instability.  Other than that the knee is good to go so i still think i tore something very specific to certain knee motion/stability and not something that is bothered by normal walking.

[Nettan]

You haven't written where you felt the pain and where's the pain is now. Can be helpful. Probably you strained something and the swelling can make the knee a bit unstable after. If swelling persists icing and some antiinflammatories can be useful. Also keep the joint moving, so you won't get stiff.
Probably this will be better by itself. But if you are unsure go check the knee out.

[Snowy]

Instability is often an indication of ligament damage. Even a grade one (mild) or two (moderate) tear of one of the collateral ligaments (which usually heal by themselves) can take up to six weeks to heal, so if this is the case it would make sense that it doesn't feel right yet. I would definitely take it to a doctor to get it checked out once you're back from vacation; until you've had it properly evaluated, the best thing to do is keep up a RICE (rest - ice - compression - elevation) regime. If you still have swelling, try and keep the leg elevated above your heart as much as you can; this will really help the swelling go down. Hopefully this will resolve by itself, but it's much better to play it safe and get it looked at by a doctor as soon as you can.