is it possible to strain your knee wakeboarding, and not tear anything?
 

i've blown my left knee before.... and tore everything. but i've never had a knee strain or sprain. the other day i came down on top of a roller after hitting a double up too soon and my right knee buckled. mind you i wear two cti custom knee braces when i ride. i don't remember there being any popping but there was a sharp pain when it happened... but when i got back in the boat there was no swelling or anything of that sort. there really was no pain after the fall, but the mcl part of my knee was sore. i can jump and do one legged squats on it but when i walk and turn the corner or if my leg moves a certain way, my mcl will feel lax and there is some give.

if i tore something wouldn't there be swelling and pain? is it possible that i might've strained the mcl, and just stretched the ligament which is why there is a little instability when i move certain ways..... i would think that wakeboard falls are a little more serious and the chances of only straining a ligament, as opposed to tearing something, are slim to none. what is everyone's take on it? feedback appreciated!

definitely possible. Ive never torn any ligaments from wakeboarding but Ive sustained knee injuries that have been nagging me for almost a year (strains, cartilage problems, hyperextension, etc). Hopefully your tweak isnt bad.

Yup. You can strain any tendon. May have just been stretched or pulled in a funky way. Takes a little time for it to retract.

Where exactly is the sharp pain. You said the mcl part was sore. Was that the same place as the sharp pain?I got hit with a lacrosse stick last year and had the same thing... Was the sharp pain on either side of your knee. Just trying to diagnose what I had.

the sharp pain was on the same side of the mcl... then when i got back in the boat it was sore. and the calf and hamstring part that connects to the mcl were sore as well.

Never torn my MCL, but when I tore my ACL, I tore my meniscus as well, and there was very little swelling, if any (in fact, I waited 1 month to even see a doc because I convinced myself it was fine, and it was a complete tear). If you've got insurance I'd have a doc take a look, sounds like there could be some damage.

It's very possible to strain your MCL and have it recover on it's own- but with how good docs are with scopes these days they might be able to fix it and have you 100% in no time with minimal recovery.

gangstar,

did you have an pain during that month before you saw the doctor or any instability? i would imagine if you tore your meniscus and acl, there would've been issues with pain upon doing other activities... whereas i'm not feeling any pain at all. like i said, i can jump and do squats and even dance around and it feels fine; however, it's only if i move my leg a certain way.... like swing it from side to side... is when i feel a little give from my mcl.

i think it's pretty common to partially tear your MCL. because it's such a wide/thick ligament, complete tears are fairly uncommon (from what I've heard anyway). It would be worth seeing a physio. from memory it's around 6 weeks for a partial tear to heal?

6 months after I had acl reconstruction, I strained/sprained my repaired knee (LCL and MCL). Keep in mind a knee sprain/strain is a tear. They are given three grades from slight to complete. I sprained my knee Labor Day weekend '09 and it still gives me some soreness. I got a rubber band to work it. That combined with riding has helped strengthen it. I don't use a brace when I ride, never have.

Yes! Happend to me. Notsure which one the mcl is but my knee kinda bent in towards my other leg. Was feeling the same after too. Just do loads of 1 leg squats on both knees and build up really good knee muscles to try prevent it!

I sprained my MCL twice while wakeboarding, and it has left it with microtears and it is for all intents and purposes, permanently stretched unless I get surgery to retract it. My knee flexes in weird ways that it's not supposed to when I put certain types of weight on it. Lately I've been doing a lot of squats and stuff to try to get the muscles around it to strengthen so that it will hold up better when boarding, but it always winds up aggravating me whenever I board. I was told by someone who took a sports medicine class that a stretched ligament like that won't show up on an MRI as abnormal, and won't generate a lot of scar tissue. I'm not so sure how true that is, but this knee has been very weird for a long time and it kills to walk in the winter, or during the summer after I've been riding for a while.

However, the symptoms of your knee sound an awful lot like what mine is like. It's been messed up for almost 3 years now.

I tore my ACL and meniscus about 10 yrs ago. I have been doing every board sport since then. Last summer it was dusk and i jumped the wake and guess i thought i was lower than i was and landed a little stuff. My knee buckled and since then has not been right. It hurts when i hoke the park or take long walks and clicks like a b!tch. A doc told me its tough to see a stretch in a ligament. Ive been squatting as well trying to strengthen muscles in my knee but the clicking is insane when squatting. anybody else have intense clicking when doing squats?

Rukus - I'm in the same boat right now. I saw a doctor a couple of weeks ago right after I had a similar type experience. Squats, walking, etc. didn't really produce much pain but pivot or twist on it and there is some significant pain.

Without an MRI, my Dr. graded mine as a grade 1 tear/sprain. He is telling me 6-8 weeks for recovery with no surgery. Sounds like you have something similar, but I would definitely go get it checked out.

I did have instability, and I couldn't run or wakeboard. It took an 8 hour flight from England to convince me it was time to see the doc. I had soreness and stiffness each morning, but it would subside once I got it warmed up.

yea, i'm not experiencing any of that. just a little bit of give if i swing it from side to side and/or pivot a certain way. after reading everyone's replies... i think it's best to give it some time while i wait to schedule an appointment at the student health center on my campus. they are booked all this week. the good thing is, it feels better everyday... but i agree i need to go get it checked regardless of the fact.

just came back from the doc, they took x-rays yada yada... and the nurse practitioner was testing range of motion... she said there is more laxity in my mcl than normal but that there is a stopping point. what does this mean?

i go back to see the ortho tomorrow when he comes into the student health center. i don't want to have to get an MRI. even when she tested range of motion, there was no pain but i did notice more laxity than normal. but what does it mean when there is a stopping point?

My suggestion would be obviously see a doctor, but I'll leave that to everyone else to convince you. Go out to walgreens and get a knee sleeve. It's not a brace, but it helps limit the range of motion, and it lessens the pain when you push it that weird way. Known from experience, it helps.

hah, thanks jordan... i'm actually being a ninny and walking with the cti brace i just ordered this past winter... got it for preventative reasons. i wear one for my left leg already because i blew that leg out three years ago. so i look like randall and parks out there on the water wearing two braces. the doctor said the brace probably prevented the entire knee from blowing out... she said that although there is laxity in my mcl, there is at least a stopping point and that MCLs usually heal on their own. again... what is a stopping point though?

A stopping point means you still have a tendon. Stretched.... Probably. Complete tear.... No

yep. when it's a complete tear, you have no stopping point. so the fact that it's stopping means it's probably a partial tear of the ligament. As I said, it's the most common MCL injury. It's a nice wide strong ligament, so take it easy for a while and listen to a decent doc or physio, and it should heal up nicely on its own.

Rob Flaherty sounds like you actually might have a meniscus tear, its a really common symptom of meniscus tears...and just to clear it up, if its a ligament its a sprain and if its a tendon or muscle its a strain..just a pet peeve since im a junior with a medical major

adam, while the experiences here may be extremely relative to your situation, i would continue to rely on the medical professionals...... let me know if your not riding the blind tomorrow afternoon because i will have the inaugural meeting of the amite river aquanauts tomorrow.

L8
kb

Caleb, yeah when i originally tore my acl i also tore my meniscus. The remove part of it bc it was torn all the way through. I prob tore it more. Not good. Ill be seeing a doc soon and hopefully they can scope it and get the piece out or somehtign. I def would not want an ACL type procedure again. BC that was jsut not fun at all.

I jammed my knee hard on a stiff legged landing off a ramp. I didn't do anything but it took two years for any hint of pain to go away. I didn't ride on it for a couple months.