knee pain will not go away

[Joker3000]

Hey My name is Dale and I know that this is a forum for Knee injury but I have knee pain that may just is not going away after about 6 months of treatment. Here is what happened I have been having a lot of problems/ pain with my right knee and muscles in my leg e.g. hamstring, calf etc. Last summer July of

2009 I was playing a soccer game and ran into another player with my big right toe. I heard a

pop in my toe and figured I just banged my toe up pretty bad. So I continued to walk on my

injured toe for about a month in a half and did nothing with it. The pain in the toe caused me

to walk funny in order to compensate for the pain which in turn caused every other muscle in my

right leg to get kind of messed up. The pain traveled up all the way to my right hip and may

have even affected my lower back. Finally I went to go see my Chiropractor and she got a lot of my

right leg back to normal. With the exception of my right knee. So my chiropractor recommended I

get a second opinion from a physical therapist and an orthopedic surgeon. Which I have done and they

see nothing wrong with my knee they think the source of my knee pain is in fact being caused by

either my right hip,

back or right foot. Even though the pain is in my knee when I am walking. Here is my problem I

need a

doctor who can figure out what the source of the pain is being caused by so I can begin to treat

it with my physical therapist and begin to fully recover. Only problem is there are no doctors

who specialize in this. All

the doctors out there are specialists in a certain part of the leg e.g. ankle, foot, knee, hip,

back. What I need is for someone to help me find a doctor that can identify what part of my leg

or back is causing my knee pain so I can treat it and get rid of my knee pain for good.

does anyone know of where I can go to get this done? Besides a podiatrist

and can anyone recommend any pain relief products that have positive results and no side effects.

thanks

Dale

[mattw]

If you haven't read Pain Free by Pete Egoscue I would highly recommend it. It talks about how to treat the body as a unit and find the underlying cause of pain, not just treat the symptom.
You'll get better!

[Heidi]

Ibuprofen seems to be the best painkiller for musculoskeletal problems as they decrease the pain and inflammation together.
I agree that your problem is most likely coming from above the knee joint due to compensation problems.
However, have you had your feet checked since the injury? One possibility is that your arch may have fallen as can happen after a foot injury - this then causes problems further up.
Whereabouts is the pain in your knee and can you describe it?
I would suggest seeing a hip specialist if this doesn't work as they should also have good knowledge of back problems due to their clse proximity and inter-relationship.

[Joker3000]

[QUOTE=Heidi;3484]Ibuprofen seems to be the best painkiller for musculoskeletal problems as they decrease the pain and inflammation together.
I agree that your problem is most likely coming from above the knee joint due to compensation problems.
However, have you had your feet checked since the injury? One possibility is that your arch may have fallen as can happen after a foot injury - this then causes problems further up.
Whereabouts is the pain in your knee and can you describe it?
I would suggest seeing a hip specialist if this doesn't work as they should also have good knowledge of back problems due to their clse proximity and inter-relationship.[/QUOTE]

thanks Heidi for the response

your feedback I have had my feet checked and the callus that's supposed to be right below the toe has been shifted a little to the right as a result of me walking funny for a while in order to compensate for the pain in my toe. The PT is working with it and getting it better. What do you mean by the arch I don't think that has been affected but is there a way I can test to find out?

The pain in my knee is generally all around and in no place consistently also the muscles above and below the knee hurt and feel like they require stretching. But stretching does not seem to make any difference. I have some good news though read below.

Update:

I just talked with my physical therapist and he is almost 100% sure that the pain in my knee is being caused by my lower back. You see after my initial injury to my toe I walked funny for a while and he thinks that messed up a nerve in my lower back. It was a just dumb luck that he figured it out. After I did some exercises with him I actually had pain in my left knee that mirrored exactly what was going on in my right knee. Because of an exercise he told me to do with my lower back.

I feel so relieved now that we know what the source of the problem is we can begin treating it and have a much better chance of success at getting all the pain to go away. And getting myself back to normal. I am also trying out some subliminal messages on my computer to help with my recovery.

here are some samples that I am using:

my leg muscles are healed

my leg will heal

my leg is getting better

my leg is healing

my leg will fully recover

I have good posture habits

My back is strong

I let stress and tension go

My back is free of tension

My back muscles are healed

what do you think?

I will keep you updated on what happens and look forward to any advise you have

thanks a bunch for your help Heidi

Dale

[Heidi]

Hi
Great news. Hopefully you will be heading towards a full recovery in no time.
As for what I was saying about the foot, you can read more here: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/general/pronate.htm
Its just something to consider.
I don't know anything about 'subliminal messages' but they can do no harm so worth a shot!
Good luck!

[Joker3000]

[QUOTE=Heidi;3486]Hi
Great news. Hopefully you will be heading towards a full recovery in no time.
As for what I was saying about the foot, you can read more here: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/general/pronate.htm
Its just something to consider.
I don't know anything about 'subliminal messages' but they can do no harm so worth a shot!
Good luck![/QUOTE]

Hey thanks Heidi I have just dropped of an MRI I had on my right knee to the orthopedic doctor to have a look at. And if he doesn't find anything wrong with my right knee then it will likely come down to treating my lower back with PT to relax any nerve(s) that may be compressed there as well as treating the rest my leg. I am already starting to feel better and am starting to walk more normally and without pain. Don't want to jinx myself but I am starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

On a more side note however when I was driving home I noticed a little lump under my right knee. It's been there a while and Both doctors suggested that it could be a cyst but that it could be treated effectively with PT and might not need to inject it with anything is that correct Heidi? So far the lump has gone down with the physical therapy so hopefully that is a good sign. what do you think Heidi?

BTW that link you gave me does not work

[Heidi]

I agree that the 'cyst' will probably go on its own and with continued treatment. No need for injections!
The URL i posted isn't a link as such. You need to copy and paste it. This forum doesn't allow links in the main text.

[Joker3000]

[QUOTE=Heidi;3492]I agree that the 'cyst' will probably go on its own and with continued treatment. No need for injections!
The URL i posted isn't a link as such. You need to copy and paste it. This forum doesn't allow links in the main text.[/QUOTE]


Ok so if the cyst does not go away is there a natural supplement you could recommend taking to speed up the process of getting the bakers cyst to go away? Something on amazon.com perhaps? what do you think Heidi?

I did copy and paste it the first time it did not show up but now it does thanks for sharing that.

thanks again for all your help Heidi

[Heidi]

I'm not aware of any supplements or anything you could take to speed this up. If the cyst in painless then there should be no need to worry.

[Joker3000]

Update:

Now alot of my original knee pain in my right knee has gone away. However the situation has now become complicated. I will try to explain. Instead of the pain being in my right knee what is happening is that both my right and left calf's are now hurting when I walk. Even though my initial injury was to my right toe and leg. It kinda feels like they have been stuffed with something. And there is a little pain in my right hamstring when I walks as well. My PT says that this does not make sense and that I should have recovered by now. He still thinks that the problem is coming from my back and I am on my way to see a orthopedic back doctor to take a look at my back and possible get some images, MRI's done.

My appointment is this Friday and I thought I would mention this to you Heidi and see what your thoughts were and if you could offer any advice when moving forward.

Obviously I will keep you informed as to what is happening

Dale