Constant shin pain?

[Yeti]

Yeah, I know, see a doctor. I would if it were me, but it's my female counterpart. She-yetis don't like doctors.

So Mrs. Yeti has something wrong with her right leg. She has constant pain (less when seated, worse with each footstep) localized on the shinbone about 2-3" below her kneecap, slightly (few mm) to the lateral/outside of the leading tibial ridge. The area appears swollen (hard, like bone) and is hot to the touch. There is occasionally bruising. Sometimes it feels like a hard piece of bone (chip) may be loose, but this is inconclusive. If I push on the bump with any pressure at all, she experiences severe pain. She's a tough yeti with a high pain tolerance, but she calls moderate pressure on the bump a 7/10. After I blew my knee, I gained a very basic sense of soft tissues around the knee; manipulating her MCL and ACL do not produce pain.

History: she's a 24-year-old female yeti. Yetis are athletic; she was a cross-country runner and basketball player before she got off team sports and into the mountains full-time. Historical injuries include ligament snaps in an ankle and two lower back injuries (crushed discs, so she's been told). She works seasonally in active jobs that require running around the woods and fields chasing children. Onset of injury may have been when she got whacked in the spot by her heavy 9'6" surfboard in August chop, but she isn't sure. We initially thought the bump and pain was a surf bump (calcification due to relentless banging) but it doesn't make sense that she'd have one there, especially since she's not a knee-paddler.

Yetis make decent but not great witch doctors. Googling around, I see that "Osgood-Schlatter Disease" is a painful swelling of the tibial tubercle caused by adolesence (she's not that young) or overuse. Still, this picture appears to depict her pain.


Likewise, this intellihealth web page describes it nearly exactly -- everything's right except her age.

Anyone else know anything about this?

Yeti

[Vinman]

yeti, it sounds more like a bursitis. if her pain is in the spot on the pic and she had hit to that spot it is likely an inflammed bursa. there is s small bursa that sits directly under the patellar tendon right in that spot, a hit to the knee or kneeling on it or even just being active could cause this type of injury.

The other possibiity is simple patellar tendinitis. in either case the treatment is similar.

Ice and stretching of the quads initially. Then after the pain starts to subside, heat and stretching. Activity modification ie avoiding kneeling. maybe wearing a neoprene knee sleve or knee pad when active.

if you have more questions ask.

[Yeti]

Vinman is the mang as usual. Much obliged -- I appreciate your help in building my medical vocabulary as well as your advice.

[snowdreamer]

I'm prone to tendinitis and bursitis of my hip. Sometimes
the pain is excruciating. Since it's very hard for me to stay off of it,
I sit at work all day, I need to take some sort of anti-inflammatory.
Celebrex works great for me I take it only a few days to keep any
side effects to a minimum. This is my experience with bursitis hope this
helps a bit.

Hope She-Yeti feels better soon.

.