Knee Injuries
Having a knee injury can be very painful, but it can also be hard to tell when it is necessary to go to a doctor or when it acceptable to stay home and rest it. Depending on your knee injury your pain can vary in the location and the severity of your knee pain. Some symptoms of knee pain is swelling and stiffness, redness and warmth to the touch, weakness or instability, and popping or crunching noises (Mayo Clinic, 2012). The problem is identifying how severe your knee injury based on the pain and symptoms you are feeling. Acute knee injuries can create pain and swelling and make it hard to bend your knee and put any weight on it as well. If your knee swells immediately after you injure it could be suggested that it is a ligament tear or fracture. However if the swelling appears over a few hours a meniscal or cartilage injury would be more common (emedicinehealth, 2012). Although, not all knee injuries are the same and you can have symptoms that don 't match up with your injury. In an ACL injury or in injuries in other ligaments it is often hard to diagnose, but some of the symptoms is sudden and very severe pain, a loud pop or snap during the injury, swelling, a feeling of looseness in the joint and the inability to put weight on your knee without pain. If these injuries are not treated at the time they happen, they can often act up months or years later and make your knee give out when you twist or pivot (WebMD, 2012). When a person tears their meniscus they will generally feel some pain, especially when the knee is straighted. The pain can be mild to severe depending on how badly it is torn. Swelling can occur soon after the injury or hours later depending on where it is torn. After the injury the knee may lock, click, feel weak, or give out. These symptoms may go away on their own, but they will frequently return and require treatment (ASMF, 2012). Treatment for such knee injuries varies depending on the type of injury and the severity or grade of your
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