knee injury recovery advice

[woodchuck]

I fell MTBing yesterday and twisted my knee and ancle one one leg (bike slipped out from under me on a sidehill and my inside foot did not some out of the pedal). Both are swollen. I am not too worryed about the ancle as it just seems to be a bit stiff. The knee, however has shart pains on the inside when I bend it. It has improved today (2nd day). How long should I wait before I start light exercises again (e.g spinning on a trainer etc.). My wife thinks I should just try the trainer each night and only continue if I don't have too much pain.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[lumpy]

Go to an orthopedist and get an MRI. You need to find out what happened in there. What you describe about the sharp pain doesn't sound good to me.

good luck!

 

[Duckwah]

SEE A DOCTOR

Whacking your knee and ignoring it then trying to do more riding on it could cause you big problems in the long term.

I speak from unfortunate experience!

 

[woodchuck]

I talked with the sports med guy on the phone today. After discussing the situation he said that I could wait and see or I could come in (my choice). I am going to see them on Thursday and will get an XRAY at that time.

 

[Duckwah]

As I said be very careful with your knees.

I injured my right knee in 2001 and had X rays that showed up nothing.

4 years later and i'm still having trouble with it and the sports doc I saw this morning is now talking about surgery and stuff.

 

[woodchuck]

Update - I saw the sports med doc yesterday and I have a +1st degree MCL sprain. I was advised to stay off of the knee (I have crutches now) until next early next week (i.e. 1.5 weeks out). At that time I should be ready to start muscle building exercises. We are working on getting the swelling down right now (with a pressure bandage and ice). I see the PT in 5 days to go over the exercises. Doc said if all goes well I should be back on a MTB bike in 4 weeks (best case) or 8 weeks (worst case). He said I could spin on a trainer and road bike earlier than that as long as I keep my cadence up.

 

[woodchuck]

Update (almost 3 weeks out) - I saw the sports med doc again this week and he cleared me to cycle if there is no pain. I started spinning on a trainer and worked up to an easy 30 minute road ride yesterday and 1 hour road ride today with no adverse affects. After a few days of rest I may do a longer ride (e.g. 1.5hrs) if my legs feel OK. I still have some pain in sudden side to side motions (which I try and avoid) so MTBing is probably out for at least another week or so (perhaps longer, no MTBing until I have good, pain-free side-to-side motion). However, inline motion like road biking is pain free. It is good to be back on the bike. With all the inactivity, even yard work was looking good to me :^).