Joe A Shaw PA-C - 3/20/2008

Question
I experienced an injury to my right knee last summer whilst playing ice hockey. I got checked into the boards and the player checking me caught the inside of my knee with his knee, causing my knee to twist. After the hit I felt a pop in my knee and lost all feeling and strength to it. I was taken to a hospital and examined but the doctors could not find a visible tear to the ACL, MCL or the PCL ligaments, though they did not rule out the possibility. I had to rest for 6 weeks with no activity or pressure on the knee and have fluid drained from it. A year after the injury I still lose feeling in the knee and my leg goes weak. Another symptom I find when I'm skating or cycling on a fitness bike is that my quadricep feels like it is going to "explode" through my skin and the knee goes extremely weak with a sharp pain in the back of my knee.

I have been diagnosed with Chondromalacia in both of my knees and after seeing my GP he told me that the pain is not related to chondromalacia. I also visit an osteopath as I've suffered from back pains over the years.  I'm getting rather frustrated with it because I have lost a lot of speed because of the knee as it goes weak when skating. I do regular exercise (gym 6 times a week plus twice on ice with the team) and when doing strength exercise i.e. squats the knee feels fine and I'm able to squat 95KG.

Do you think that the underlying problem could lie in the muscle or if it is caused by remnants of the injury last summer. I've also started to think if it is caused by misalignment of the spine and there is pressure on a nerve, which would cause the pain.

Answer
Janne,
You need to have an MRI they are about 95% accurate in diagnosing meniscus tears etc..A lot of what you are describing sounds like the mensicus (cartilage).
It would not be the chondromalacia. I doubt it is a misalingment of the spine..(that sounds like a DC diagnosis?)..If they are concerned about that, they need to get a MRI of the spine to rule out any disc etiologies.