Continued Knee Pain

[KGC000]

Two years ago, I suffered an injury playing indoor soccer which disabled me for a time. After several visits to a specialist, my doc informed me that I had a minor tear in my medial miniscus. However, since it took so long to schedule visits and MRIs, by the time I finally got his diagnosis, I had already gained most of my ability to move around (took about 5 weeks total). He recommended no surgery and sent me on my way.

So, I continued to play soccer and have had no real issues (until I injured my back lifting weights about 18 months ago - that put the lid on my soccer activities). Once the swelling went down in my ruptured vertabrae, I contiuned a regular workout regiment of going to the gym (eliptical machine and weight lifting) and running - one of those every day (usually 3 days at the gym, 4 days running) - I've had this same workout schedule for years. My left knee felt "weak" especially side to side, but no real pain.

Last September, while coaching my son's soccer game, I leaped up to knock a ball down; when I landed, I twisted my knee and was disabled for about a week and a half. I resumed my workout regiment but the knee pain never completely left. Most of the time, I am pain free. When I sit for long periods of time, my knee is very stiff and sometimes painful. The pain is sometimes sharp and regularly awakens me at night or keeps me form sleeping. I sleep on my side -this usually casues the pain - sleeping on my back stiffens my back!

My question is this: is it possible I aggrivated the tear or have some other injury? I would like to manage this pain somehow - will strengthening the muscles around the knee help?

Thanks for your help.

[Heidi]

Its definately possible that you aggravated the original injury and the tear may not be more substantial. As it is now causing you problems on a daily basis, my advice is to return to your Doctor to get an MRI which will reveal the extent of the problem and if surgery is required.
In general yes, strengthening will help. You should do this whether you end up having surgery or not. The stronger the knee is before an operation the better result you will have.