Knee pain/ cortisone shot

It sounds like I have exactly the same thing going on location wise. My pain came from no where too (it was not gradual which is weird for a tendon inflammation issue). I literally just ran one day on it and then I was at the point were I could not walk. After a week of complete rest it was still a 9 out of 10 pain wise. I was running about 17 miles a day went I got hurt, so going to complete rest should have a benefit.

Anyway, I just got the shot a few hours ago. For two reasons, one is I want to just speed up the healing process. Two, I am a on a work trip in another country and just walking is bad and I figure it might be a good diagnosis.

Even though not training during this base phase it crucial, my plan is to take 3-4 more days off (assuming the pain does not come back just from walking). During this I will stretch, foam role and do some strengthening things, then pray it helped.

I had knee problems caused by a bang that I didn't register at the time until I pulled up during a run the next day. It caused all manner of problems, and I ended up having two cortisone injections in different parts of the knee to try remedy the problem.

The first was for the bursa above the knee, which fixed that part of the problem. The second, a few weeks later, was on the medial side of the knee around where I had had a slight tear and some inflammation that wouldn't resolve.

The second one didn't work and I subsequently had to have arthroscopy to remedy the problem.

Some things to note with cortisone injections:

1) It has a life of 8-12 weeks. My pain went from sharp to a dull ache with the second injection (but never went completely) until 9 weeks later and it then degraded very rapidly to where it had been pre-injection.

2) The advice I received was to keep weight off of it for 24 hours, and I could start jogging again after 48 hours.

3) Hopefully you have not received the injection (directly) into an inflamed tendon as cortisone can dramatically increase the chances of a tendon rupture if it is injected into the tendon.

Good luck with recovery.

Oh, and how it works is that you will simply receive an injection into the affected area, sometimes with a local anaesthetic beforehand (sometimes the anaesthetic is given with the cortisone).

Cortisone is an anti-inflammatory injection (not a pain relief one as is commonly believed). Any pain relief (other than in the immediate aftermath from the anaesthetic) is as a result of decreasing inflammation.

I've been dealing with hip pain but have learned a LOT about steroids, pain, solutions & problems.

I would go to another doc who WILL order an MRI before you start taking steroids. I ignored this same advice and took steroids--only made the problem worse (I took oral steroids, which are WORSE for your body (long story why I chose them), but the steroid shots are WORSE for the area being injected.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/do-cortisone-shots-actually-make-things-worse/

http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=1066622

The problem is that you may not have inflammation. I am not trained in the medical profession, but I have talked to lots of professionals at this point (desperate for help) and read a TON and anyway IF you have microscopic tears to any of your connective tissue--the cortisone WILL NOT work, and it will actually make things worse. I ignored advice to get an MRI first and, like I said, I think the problem is worse now.

You might also want to thoroughly read the website of Dr. Ron Hauser, prolotherapy, caring medical. I haven't received prolotherapy but it is the only treatment for unsubsiding pain that sounds like it has actual promise. I have read horror stories about surgery--yes--surgery can go well, but it can also ruin your body and running forever, for good, period. So I wouldn't risk surgery if that's what you need, but again I know you aren't even thinking surgery, you are just thinking what's wrong--that's where I was a few months ago. Get an MRI. Stupid that he wouldn't order one, IMHO. I had a doctor tell me: why go shooting steroids when you don't KNOW what is wrong. He was correct and I should have listened to him. When I finally had the MRI, I realized that I had a torn labrum (equivalent to a torn miniscus in the knee). If you have torn or frayed tendons or ligaments or that sort of thing, steroids will NOT touch them and in fact steroids damage them further. Get another doc and get an MRI.

For the reasons not a runner anymore notes, you might want to take a look at prolo therapy. It is intended to be a long term solution for soft tissue issues.

I read good things about prolo for ankles and just had my second shot. I also have been under extensive PT. Between the 2, something REALLY worked...and fast...

IT BAND!!!! Foam roll the F U C K out of it.

-The Doctor

Might I suggest you have some hip/glute weakness or tightness caused by an imbalance, which is not letting your kneecap track straight. I'm working through this problem with PT. Personally I'd stay away from orthos or any MD with a needle. You need to address the root cause of the pain.

I was a strong believer--very strong believer--in PT. I still am, to a certain extent. BUT, with my current injury, PT made it WORSE. And now I know that I have a labral tear--we were doing twisting lots of twisting in PT and lunges. Both containdicated for labral tears. And I was going to a very high end facility for athletes--where many pro athletes are treated. They just missed it or treated me incorrectly or whatever. You really need imaging and READ READ READ for yourself everything about the knee, ask questions on this board, read again, ask the pros who are treating you, but then double-check their answers with other pros, ask everyone you can, get a second opinion. I would get an MRI and try prolo, maybe PT first but only if I was sure they were correct. I will be more cautious about PT in the future because if they are wrong, they can make an injury worse. We were doing plyometrics--twisting--on a labral tear.

Good luck.

p.s. I intend to become a runner again, and soon.

So just now got the results back from the MRI.

Problems not causing pain: Partially torn lateral meniscus. Inflamed lateral suture from prior surgery. Inflamed MCL insertion from reattachment during prior surgery.

Problems related to/causing pain: Bio-screw floating around, now lodged under lateral part of patella. This is putting pressure on the patella, and causing bursitis above it. Medial suture possibly twisted/major inflammation because of the bursitis.

Treatment: Cortisone shot given. Take five days off completely. Run every other day for a week. If no pain, increase to running 2 out of every 3 days. If still no pain, begin training. If this doesnt solve it, try to remove the bio-screw useing just a scope. If they have to cut it open, then they will also fix the meniscus.