Knee Pain after Twisting

[heather]

I hurt me knee a couple of weeks ago while I was bending down to reach something on a bottom shelf and turned to grab something from the other side. I felt a sharp pain towards the outside of my knee. However, it only lasted for a moment and then just felt achy. I did RICE for about a week and it started to feel a little better. Then I played volleyball one night. I don’t remember hurting my knee again playing volleyball, but the following day my knee was hurting again. This was about a week ago and my knee is still hurting. I have been doing RICE again this past week, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. Does anybody have any ideas?

[Heidi]

Hi

It may be that you have damaged the lateral collateral ligament:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/ilateralligament.html

or even the lateral meniscus:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/ilateralmeniscus.html

As you only felt pain initially which did not last for long, and you have not mentioned any swelling/brusining, it is probably only a small injury. The volleyball has probably just aggravated it. You need to rest it completely until it feels 100% better.

Try stretching the muscles of the leg to ensure you have good range of motion, and then when its comfortable to so do, try strengthening the quads, hamstrings and calf muscles to prevent it happening again.

Good luck!

[heather]

I went to see the orthopedic surgeon and he said that my knee felt stable, so no ligament damage. He did give me a cortisone shot and clinoril to take for 3 weeks. It has now been 5 days and my knee still feels full and tight. So I guess my question is, how long does it usually take for the cortisone shot to help the inflammation go down?

[Heidi]

Cortisone injections usually help (if they are going to) within 5 days I'm afraid. I'm not a massive fan.
Cortisone is a corticosteroid. You can read a bit more about it here:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/general/corticosteroids.php

I also don't believe that he should just inject you without knowing what the problem is. Were you told anything specific about what might be causing the pain?
Clinoril is an anti-inflammatory and so should help reduce pain and swelling. Give it a bit longer on these.
Other things you can try include contrasting hot and cold for 5 minutes each (20 mins total).

[heather]

He thinks it might be a torn meniscus. I have an MRI scheduled now, so I'll try contrasting the hot and cold in the meantime.