outside part of knee "grinds" when walking

[ohiorich]

Not sure how it happened, but one day while walking up some stairs my right leg gave out, and developed intense pain in my right knee. After about 20 days of careful walking, wearing a compression knee brace, the pain seemed to almost go away, however it appears I've lost some stability in my knee/right leg area. I feel some pain when applying my weight on that leg and going upstairs or downstairs...now I hear and feel a grinding feeling from the right outside of the knee, just to the right of my kneecap when I move my lower leg back & forth. Pressing in that area I can feel some internal pain. Each step I take I can hear the noise, and feel the grind. Now, there doesn't seem to be no pain in this particular area, just on the right side of my knee, and what seems to be inside the knee cap area. I've been researching on the 'net about this and it could be one of many things, from a bruised tendon, or torn LCL, or others. It looks like the top of my lateral ligament may have been damaged, but by looking at a picture of the knee, the ligament appears to stop short of where I seem to feel this grinding and pain. It seems that I've lost the ability to place my weight on my right leg and lift without fear of it giving out. What do you think, before I go see my doctor? I can walk fine, but do have a slight limp due to the feeling of the area.

[ohiorich]

If I put pressure on my leg just above my right knee, I can move without pain or grinding, actually I can place most of my weight on it without pain. ???

[Heidi]

Hi

This could, as you say, be a lot of things. LCL sounds unlikely to me, this is unusual and would take quite a hard blow to damage it.

Possibilities to consider are meniscus damage and patello femoral pain. You can find out more about these here:

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/indexcmp.php

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

I think the best thing you can do is go to the Dr, see what he/she says, but make sure you get some physio or other treatment at least, if not an MRI.

Good luck!