Thread: MRI shows nothing, knee pain continues - do I need surgery?

According to my MRI and CAT scan I had a tibial plateau fracture, torn ACL, and torn MCL. After my surgery, my OS said my Tibia was perfectly fine (pristine was the word he used) not even a dent. But my femur had a "rough" area that he wasn't sure was from my accident (it could have been old) and my meniscus had a grade 3 tear. He repaired my meniscus and fixed my femur (since he was"already in there." )

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that my MRI was wrong and so was the CAT scan. So if your still in pain I would definitely consider having them look inside your knee. (I had no pain and all my surgeons thought that was odd. They just assumed I had a high tolerance for pain. Which I didn't since nothing was broken) (And I saw 3 different ortho surgeons because I didn't want a plate in my knee unless it was absolutely necessary... Turns out I didn't need a plate at all)

REPLY: hey
Your not alone on this I have the same problem I hurt my knee 3 yrs ago on a skateboard and they said the same thing to me my knee continues to get worse does ur knee lock or click -if so then go to ur gp they will talk u through all the options and maybe u can get to the bottum on this.

Originally Posted by kneeman

Hello,

I am writing this forum because in doing research on my knee injury I've found some excellent and informative posts that have been very helpful to me. I injured my knee three months ago doing some mountain climbing/hiking. I jumped up on a boulder and during the plant of my jump may possibly of hyper-extended my knee. After climbing down from the boulder I felt a sharp pain in the lower external (front left) part of my left knee as well as some pain in the upper external (front left) part of the same knee. It was especially painful hiking downhill. I thought I had strained some ligaments and rested it for a week. I then resumed activity and was able to jog/run/ride a stationary bike without too much pain. However, going down stairs or changing directions while running was extremely painful. I got an MRI that showed inflammation in the area of the injury, but no damage to the ligaments or cartilage. I was diagnosed with a bone bruise on the femoral condyll, but my doctor said that it was possible that I may have torn some cartilage even though the MRI showed nothing.

I am a pro basketball player in Europe and therefore in the past three months I have been trying to rehab my knee with the help of my team's trainers. I have made progress with my strength, but certain movements still give me very sharp bursts of pain. If I do too much I have residual pain for days that keeps me from being able to workout. Therefore I am in a constant back and forth game of trying to make progress without doing too much to set myself back.

Two months after the injury I got a follow up MRI that showed that the inflammation was gone and that the "bone bruise" was healed. The doctor said it was normal to have pain even after the MRI showed nothing. Therefore I have begun to step up the intensity of my workouts. However, as I increase the intensity I am starting to notice the familiar discomfort. It hasn't reached the levels of before, but I fear I am heading down that road.

My question is at what point do I need to pull the plug on the rehab process and get my knee scoped? If the MRI says the bone bruise has healed why do I feel like the pain and problems are still there (though I am able to do more than I was before)? Is it possible that a bone bruise can still be present though not visible on an MRI? Is it more likely that I have some cartilage tear that was not seen on the MRI? Would an exploratory scope resolve these questions? My season begins in several weeks and therefore the amount of rehab time I have is diminishing. Shortly I will begin to go all out and I fear that if I have another setback then surgery will be the only alternative.

Any help/advice/previous experiences with these type of injuries is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

My buds the head trainer at a major university. If the athlete has insurance and it will pay for an MRI, they get one. If not and the university is on the hook, they just scope it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this knee issue: I didn't get it from any sports or anything which makes me feel dumber lol. I was at a friend's house and had my leg under me. I turned to look at something and my knee went "pop" extremely loud followed by excruciating pain for like 20 minutes. It didn't seem to swell. Then after that it only hurt up and down stairs. Well, I am in the military, and I went to a school for a couple months and the knee pain got worse. It cracks and pops about 20 times a day and hurts sometimes when it finally does crack or pop. When I sit too long it stiffens and locks. I went to a PA and told him all this and he said "patellar tendonitis." Gave me naproxen which doesn't do anything. Well it's getting worse so I got an MRI done today and waiting on that. I've been told by other people with knee problems I tore something - and could have torn my meniscus. But I'm wondering why the doc would tell me it was patellar tendonitis when I told him about the pop? I know patellar tendonitis and torn meniscus have similar symptoms but it's now to the point I can barely walk. Now I think the rest of my leg is compensating because I have hip pain for a month now and in my thigh it feels like when you see someone pull an elastic band as tight as they can until it might snap but it doesn't snap - that's how my thigh feels now.

Anyone have ideas what it might be? I've seen that sometimes MRI results don't show up anything but I know something serious is going on in there.

I highly recommend all you one post people try the search function...

Tightenyourfuckingboots.com

They cured my knee pain when the mri came back aok.

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