Humpty Dumpty had a great fall (Me)!!!

[Tinkerfreak]

To anyone in the medical field I would appreciate your thoughts on this. I fell down Friday morning and hurt my knee and ankle. My ankle is still swelled up. I can walk on it but the swelling won't go down, only at night it goes down and then as I get moving around in the a.m. it swells up again. Could it be a sprain and if so how do you treat this? I can walk on it fine it just feels really stiff because it is so swollen. Also I fell on my knee and my knee cap is really sore. I could hardly bend it for a few days. I can bend it now but it still hurts really bad to touch it. It is really badly bruised. Is it possible to brake your knee cap? I have called my doctor and I have an appointment for tomorrow morning but I'm not sure if I really need to see him or not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[kakn7294]

Definately go to the doctor - you most likely need X-rays to determine if either the ankle or knee has sustained a fracture. For now, stay off of your feet and keep the leg elevated. If you need it, use aceteminephen or ibuprofen for the pain. You can also use ice but only for about 20-30 min at a time and not directly on the skin so you don't cause skin damage. If you have to be up walking on it, try an ACE bandage or pre-made support but be careful that it's not too tight and cutting off circulation. I'm an old pro at falls as I usually have at least one per year myself. I've already fallen in 2007, so I'm probably looking at at least 2 this year!

[Dsnygirl]

I'm not really qualified in sprains and breaks, just delivering babies - - but I agree w/ Kathy - definitely go see your dr. tomorrow, and keep your ankle elevated as much as possible until then. It's so hard to tell with sprains vs. breaks, and at least you'll know for sure after an x-ray. Good luck!

[DVC2004]

Definitely go to the dr. I sprained my ankle a few years ago and walked on it for a few days. Finally it swelled up like a balloon and turned purple. It turned out to be a sprain after all and it felt better, but I was glad to have the dr. tell me for sure. You can pick up a brace at a pharmacy for not too much money- that helped too.

[Tinkerfreak]

Thanks I knew you guys would have some good answers. I will keep the appointment tomorrow just to rule out anything serious.
Thanks for all of your help.

[Tinkerfreak]

I just got my x-ray results back and I have a crack in my knee cap. Does that sound right. The doctor said that I also have fluid built up on my knee. He was worried that I might have broken some bone under the knee cap but I didn't. I have to take it easy until it heals and he said I can ice it and if it seems to get worse I might have to wear a brace on my leg to keep my knee from bending. He also said I could take Advil. My ankle is sprained and might take a long time to heal because there is not much that can be done about that. The ankle does not hurt much it just keeps swelling up. The knee hurts a little but it is getting better. It hurts worse if I bend it so I guess I'll be walkin like a pirate with a peg leg until it gets better.

[Jasper]

I know from experience that a cracked knee cap is possible. Follow your doctor's directions but don't be surprised that with both you knee and ankle messed up at the same time that it will take a long while before you are back in top form. In addition to what you mentioned in your post, I would also suggest alternating hot and cold on the injury sites. I was advised that I should do 15 minutes cold, 15 minutes off followed by 15 minutes of hot, followed by 15 minutes off and then repeat the cycle for as many hours of the day as you can. My doc has always said that the alternating of heat and cold will make it feel better than just one or the other. My feeling was that it did offer more relief than just one type.

[kakn7294]

I've had the fluid build-up under the knee cap before and it can be quite painful. Try to stay off of it as much as possible and keep it elevated when you are sitting. You might want to try to support it on a pillow when sleeping too if you sleep on your back or the side opposite of the injury. Don't walk with it too straight all of the time or you will cause yourself to have pain on the other side because you will be over-compensating for the funny way you are walking and make the muscles on the opposite leg sore.