Knee injury after slipping on water

[coppins]

Just did something really stupid, slipped on spillage of water on kitchen floor.
Sort of did the splits and landed with left knee falling on inside, felt something go seemed to be both inside and out.
I am not in great pain and can weight bare and bend leg but seems to hurt on sideways movement and feels tender on the inside of knee.
I have ice pack on it at the moment.
Does anyone know what I might have done?

[Heidi]

Hi

It sounds as though it could be a medial ligament sprain, although it is obviously difficult to tell without seeing it and being able to assess it.

You are doing the right thing by icing it, keep this up for the next couple of days, as often as every 3 hours if you can. a compression bandage may also help with the swelling.

Try to rest it as much as possible too. Once you can do so pain free, start bending and straightening it regularly and also stretching the quad and hamstring muscles.

If you can, get yourself to an injury specialist after christmas, firstly to make sure this is the injury and secondly to get a bit of treatment and maybe some exercises to stop this injury becoming more of a problem than it should be!

Good luck!

[coppins]

Thanks Heidi, after looking on Internet you have confirmed what I thought.
How long do you think it will be before I can get back to excercise classes?

[Heidi]

This really depends on how bad the damage is. And if this is the damage and the only damage!

Its a bit like trying to answer how long is a piece of string! Anwhere between 2 weeks and 3 months! (But that last one is for complete ruptures....unlikely from the way you injured it. If it was ruptured the joint would feel very unstable and there would be bruising and swelling).

[coppins]

Thanks again Heidi, that is reassuring as there is no swelling or bruising, I can put weight on it and it isn't painful at rest. I can bend it to a certain extent, it is just the sideways movement that catches me if I turn it accidentally with foot on floor even without weight on it if you know what I mean. The compression bandage and ice and ibroprofen seem to help no end.
Should I be stopping all this after 48 hrs?
I am very grateful for your time and expert opinion.

[Heidi]

If they are still helping then you can continue with them. Probably stop the ice tomorrow though. But you can continue with the ibuprofen and compression bandage as long as you feel they're necessary.

It does hopefully only sound like a minor tear, if you can put weight on it. I don't know if you've already seen these pages, but definately worth a look:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/medialligament.htm

[coppins]

Thanks for your advice Heidi, the knee is getting much better. I am gradually building up some exercises and stretching, it is only painful when I try to kneel or crouch now as in squats. This, I am sure is only to be expected. I did 10 mins static cycling and 10 mins on treadmill at the gym yesterday, then iced afterwards and it wasn't too bad. So hopefully I have got away with it quite lightly thankfully.
You are so good to give up your time for people on here, thanks again.

Chris.