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Thread: My knee won't bend....

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    Cool My knee won't bend....

    Okay, so I'm 56 years old but in good health. The usual achy joints that come with age, but nothing major. Yesterday I suddenly noticed my left knee won't bend! No significant pain. It feels swollen, but apparently not enough for most people to notice when they look at it. I haven't injured it that I know of. Has anybody else had a problem like this? I'm just wondering what is causing it, and if it will improve on its own.
    IF you are willing & obedient , you shall eat the good of the land: But if you refuse & rebel, You shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 1:19, 20

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    I am told that when this happens a tiny piece of something breaks off and gets in the patella track and the knee won't bend. Though, you are missing the pain part. So, I don't know. MRI or Xray at the least.

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    You probably do have a piece of cartilage or other joint tissue broken off inside. Trying to do some GENTLE exercises (standing with your weight on the foot, and twisting *gently* to rotate the joint, with the knee straight, and then bent as far as it will go, MAY dislodge the obstruction.

    Use some ice to try to reduce the swelling. Arnica gel won't hurt (but may not do much, either)

    If you have health insurance, getting an appointment with a doctor fairly soon wouldn't be a bad idea. The good news is these days, with the arthroscopes and other amazing technology they've developed, they can often "fish out" a small piece of floating junk with very little trauma. And they can see exactly what the problem is using an MRI- something which used to require surgery to "look and see" what was wrong!

    Isn't getting old(er) (as my daughter used to say) fun?

    Summerthyme

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    Unhappy I have terrible knees ...

    I have injured both knees alot over the years ... working and training horses. Accidents while moving and herding sheep ... in other words work related stuff that happens to all of us farmers and ranchers.
    Crap happens ...

    Mine do what yours is doing at least once or twice a year and I'm 58 1/2!
    I will try to stay off of it for a little tiny bit of time but here that is nearly not possible. I still go out and do chores when running a fever!

    Lots of people tell me to ice stuff but I can NOT do that! For me ice does NOT help but makes matters worse ... much worse. I have Raynard's and can NOT tolerate the cold.

    Get either a heating pad or one of the little instant heat relievers that you can get at any drug store. I wrap my knee in that, then put one of the vetwraps on it and keep it up as much as I can. Before I wrap it I put either Arnica jel or cream on it/ OR some horse goo for sprains and such. I only do the horse goo IF it is really, really swollen.

    Give it a couple of days ... soaking it in Epsoms Salts will also help. If you still can not bend it after four or five days of the above ... then you should maybe think about seeing someone.

    Do you have Arnica tablets? I also take those when my knees act up.

    Time is a GREAT healer!

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    Smile I also take certain supplements when my knees act up ...

    If you want the list I'll go get it and will post it here for you.

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    I've been using Curcumin for joint pain, but I'm out. About all I have in the first aid cabinet for this sort of problem right now is aspirin, alcohol, some of that "heat" cream, and miscellaneous vitamins and supplements. I'll try the heat cream and putting my foot up, and see if that helps. Thanks, everybody!

    eta: I'll try some of Summerthyme's easy-exercises, too, and see if that helps.
    IF you are willing & obedient , you shall eat the good of the land: But if you refuse & rebel, You shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 1:19, 20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Summerthyme View Post
    twisting *gently* to rotate the joint, with the knee straight, and then bent as far as it will go, MAY dislodge the obstruction.

    Do you think walking would help? Maybe going for a 20-minute walk or something....think that might dislodge it, or would it make it worse?

    And, to answer your other question, getting old is a pain in the BUTT....as well as other places!
    IF you are willing & obedient , you shall eat the good of the land: But if you refuse & rebel, You shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 1:19, 20

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    Quote Originally Posted by grower View Post
    Do you think walking would help? Maybe going for a 20-minute walk or something....think that might dislodge it, or would it make it worse?
    .... stay within hopping / crawling distance from your house.

    O.W.


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    I'll share my story quickly again: I had sudden and mysterious calf pain, which I had checked out. It turned out to be related to a disc problem in my back (I'll skip all the details). At that point, I had an x-ray, and when that didn't show enough, I paid for an MRI out of pocket at the university, which set me back for awhile. I went to the university, rather than a chiro or someone else who needed to pay the rent.

    I wanted to know exactly what was wrong so that I wouldn't cause further damage with incorrect therapies! Now that I know what's going on and likely to happen, I can research and make more informed decisions.

    When other people say similar things -- new condition, never had it before -- I suggest getting an accurate diagnosis and then going from there. Extreme "Experiments" could cause further damage (gentle things as Summer suggested won't hurt). Older knees can have several things go wrong with them. Some conditions respond well to home treatments and others will need more serious intervention.

    Herbs and supplements can certainly help and may even help one avoid surgery in some cases! But you've got to know exactly what's happening, first, and that's hard to know just from a thread on the Internet. (:

    In any case, I hope that you feel a whole series of fast twitches and then the knee unbends and all is well! I do acupressure on myself and that's what happens when I get knots and am able to release them, but the causes of my problems differ from yours, I suspect.

    For acupressure, there are a number of books around and probably free information online. I started it by getting chair massages at the mall for $15 and paying attention to what the therapist was doing. (No WISECRACKS . . .it's in public) and now can better help myself for some problems.

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    Try some WD-40, I know what it's for, but I promise it works. When ever my joints don't work right, out comes the WD-40, I spray some on my hands and rub it in. IT WORKS , so u smell like a oil can, it WORKS trust me.

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