swollen knee

[Retiredfire]

Am seeing an orthopod in a week or so, but was wondering if anyone here had an opinion as what it may be. I struck my R knee (patela) on ground while rolling in jujitsu. It is currently swollen but not painful. When i squat down it feels tight.It feels s if there is an accumulation of fluid. I can palpate the patella without pain and it does not move around abnormally, but it fells like there is 1cm of extra squishy tissue over it as compared to the other one. My guess is an accumulation of fluid in the bursa between the tibia and the patellar ligament, however the swelling feels to be on top of the ligament?

[x SF med]

Sounds like you bruised your patella - or as we used to say "F'd up knee, rub some dirt on it, eat 600mg of motrin and forget about it until tomorrow, if it still hurts get an x-ray."

[swatsurgeon]

sounds like it's FUBAR....just kidding, you're eval of it sounds accurate. RICE is your friend with an ibuprofen chaser......
Never hurts to see an orthopod. Hope you heal well
ss

[PedOncoDoc]

sounds like it's FUBAR....just kidding, you're eval of it sounds accurate. RICE is your friend with an ibuprofen chaser......
Never hurts to see an orthopod. Hope you heal well
ss

And if the swelling doesn't go town, (after appropriate evaluation) sometimes the orthopod will drain the fluid +/- give a steroid injection to help quiet down the inflammation.

[Retiredfire]

Thank you gentlemen for your responses.

[Tress]

I am not a medic, but I did have a similar thing happen to me about 10 years ago. I was taking the snow tires off of my car and putting on the summer tires. Alot of kneeling without the benefit of protection. The next day the knee started to swell. Three days later it looked really bad and was actually a little painful when I would bend the knee. It almost seemed like there was way too much fluid in the joint, which created more pressure in the joint than there should have been. The symptons sound almost identical except that I maybe had more inflammation. The orthopedic that I went to said that it was something like a "ruptured Bursa."

To all you medics out there, does that sound "kosher". I just took the Ortho at his word. I had never used him prior.

He drained the knee twice over a one week time period, taking out a boatload of a rose colored fluid both times, and it never did it again. He mentioned the possibility of having to remove the Bursa, but since it never occurred again that has not happened.

[greenberetTFS]

I have a similar problem on my elbow.........I fell on it and now have a bag of ? about the size of a baseball hanging from the elbow.......... I've had it for about 3 weeks now and it hasn't gone down........I thought I'd wait and go to the emergency room the next time I have an appointment at the VA........Do I need to get it drained?......What is it ?.......:confused:

Big Teddy :munchin

[Retiredfire]

been taking NSAIDS for the past 3 days and iccing it whenerver i can swelling is down but not back to normal. seeing the ortho in the AM.

[Boomer-61]

Retire,
This initially sounds like a pre-patellar bursitis. The one thing that concerns me is the tightness with flexion (bending the knee). Does the tightness feel like it is within the joint or strictly outside the joint? If it is simply a pre-patellar bursitis, the fluid will probably absorb in short order. It will help if you have a compressive dressing on it like an ACE wrap. Keep the skin clean as these can some times become infected expecially in the grappling arts venue. If the tightness is from fluid within the joint, that is another set of issues depending on your age. Let us know how things turn out. Good luck to you.

[Masochist]

Retire,
This initially sounds like a pre-patellar bursitis. The one thing that concerns me is the tightness with flexion (bending the knee). Does the tightness feel like it is within the joint or strictly outside the joint? If it is simply a pre-patellar bursitis, the fluid will probably absorb in short order. It will help if you have a compressive dressing on it like an ACE wrap. Keep the skin clean as these can some times become infected expecially in the grappling arts venue. If the tightness is from fluid within the joint, that is another set of issues depending on your age. Let us know how things turn out. Good luck to you.

Not a doctor, but suffered from similar issues a while back. I swear there was a thorough discussion of it on here, but my Google-fu seems to be on the fritz today. If I come across it I'll link to it.

Boomer's diagnosis is pretty similar to my case and what might be going on with you. I was doing a lot of MMA in addition to rucking, and sadly strict rest was the only thing that allowed the fluid to drain/reabsorb. Any time I would go back to using the joint outside of normal use, it would swell up and become sore again right below the kneecap. Enough time off of it and everything went back to normal. Good luck.

[Retiredfire]

pre patellar bursitis is the winning diagnosis according to the orthopod.http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/housemaids_knee.htm.
No jujitsu for another month. rice and nsaids, and if not better in a month cortisone.
thank you boomer, ss, and all who responded. Funny side note. I am currently working in an NICU and after informal consultations with the neonatologist the best suggestion/diagnoses i could garner was: you should have two knees and if they hurt go to an orthopod.

[Boomer-61]

Although a nuisance anything outside the joint is always better than problems within the joint. This should resolve without further issues. :lifter

[Dusty]

I have a similar problem on my elbow.........I fell on it and now have a bag of ? about the size of a baseball hanging from the elbow.......... I've had it for about 3 weeks now and it hasn't gone down........I thought I'd wait and go to the emergency room the next time I have an appointment at the VA........Do I need to get it drained?......What is it ?.......:confused:

Big Teddy :munchin

3 weeks? Go to the ER, Bro.:mad:

[Boomer-61]

Big Teddy,
Sorry, I was focused on Retire's post and missed yours. It sounds like you have an olecranon bursitis; basically fluid accumulation in the bursa over the elbow. I've seen theses as big as yours and they too generally absorb with time if you use a compressive dressing (ACE wrap). An X-ray would be good just to make sure you didn't chip the bone. If the X-ray is negative and the fluid does not resolve with compression sometimes they need to be drained. Be careful of abrasions as they can seed or infect the sack and that gets into surgery.
Good luck.