Ask The Doctor

Dear Ask The Doctor: I fell on the ice last week and fell had on me knee. It hurts to walk and bend my knee. Should i go to the doctor or just wait it out?

Dear Meghann: According with your description of the pain: during walking and when you bend the knee, without instability, maybe it is an uncomplicated trauma of the knee which with relative rest and anti-inflammatory drugs has a good chance to improve in few weeks.

But if you have persistent inflammation and pain along with remarkable limitation on flexion and extension associated with instability of the knee other post trauma conditions should be ruled out such as: injuries of ligaments or menisci, if this is the case the strategy would be: evaluation by an orthopedic surgeon and decide about perform some imaging studies to diagnose and treat the injury.