9 yr old son hyperextended knee

[uyfdcny]

My son hyperextended his left knee during a football game (turf caught his cleat and defense pulled him head over heals). He stopped playing immediately and we took him to the ER. X-rays were clear but he had a little knee swelling. He complained of pain in his calf and hamstring for the first 24 hrs (no knee pain) but after 48 hours was pain free.

His knee still looks a little swollen compared to the other and he has trouble extending is knee completely and flexing completely. He's in no pain when he tries but just can't do it. He can bear weight and gimp around without crutches. We have an MRI scheduled for 11/30 but I'm freaking out. This kid is very active. Football (running back), swimming, and baseball (catcher).

Could he have torn a ligament?

[Heidi]

Hi
Could be a ligament, could be muscle or tendon damage. It's really difficult to know without seeing it and sometimes even then its hard to tell with this kind of injury.
All you can really do is get him to rest it (in terms of walking on it etc), keep icing and compressing etc to ease swelling. Get him to keep the knee moving through full range as much as possible and wait for the MRI results!

[Timoni]

That's bad,sorry to you.
I heard magneto-therapy is good wa to recover,and many sportsmans use for it,maybe you also should try it.I found interesting article here magneto-therapy.eu It is painless and not expensive.I believe it will be useful for your son.Good luck!

[uyfdcny]

Hi Heidi,
Thanks for the response. We are now in a waiting pattern for his results. What can I do to help him with getting his range of motion back? And is it safe to do this before the MRI results come back? As far as walking on it....he's barely been using one crutch. I'm at the point where I'm begging him to use the thing...it's not pretty.

Thanks,
Val

[Heidi]

It's safe to do anything that doesn't cause him pain.
Just get him to lay on his front and bent the knee as far as he can, so the heel moves towards the bum

[uyfdcny]

Thanks Heidi! His results came back as a bone bruise, no ligament damage. Phew!

Now we have to get him back in shape. He's still not able to fully extend or flex his knee. We are 2 weeks out now and he still has some swelling. Will the range of motion issue go away when the swelling does? Should we try to push past his stiffness or just wait it out?

Thanks,
Val

[Heidi]

Yes the motion should improve as the swelling goes down. Keep doing RICE.
Only try to push the knee further if it doesn't cause pain. It's going to feel stiff but if it's painful don't push it.