Knee injury from BJJ

Mohamed Arbi · 01-28-2009, 12:31 PM

Hi,

Tuesday I hurt my knee. I applied a body triangle and the guy I was rolling with fell to his side. So my foot still under my knee, he fell with his body on top of my knee. I heard/felt a small snap and some pain. Light nothing serieus.

When I got home I put a brace on. Basicly I can walk without pain and bend it without trouble, but when I turn/twist my knee then I feel a flash of pain.

I thought it might be my MCL?

When would it be ok to use a stationary bike for rehab?

Thanks

Ben Langford · 01-28-2009, 03:19 PM

When I did my MCL (partial tear) I could barely walk for a few days. If you're getting around fine it's unlikely to be ligament damage. From the description of the injury it sounds like a partial meniscus tear. I did this recently myself trying not to land on someone after I threw them.

I found that as long as you have good form squating should be fine, just don't do any weights that could compromise technique. I found stationary bikes to be quite painful as you exert force through the ball of the foot when riding rather than the heel and this puts pressure on the meniscus.

If the tear is near the edge then healing shouldn't take too long (4 to 6 weeks) and you can return to BJJ training before the end of the period as long as you are really careful.

Hope this helps.

Mohamed Arbi · 01-29-2009, 02:07 AM

Hiya,

Thanks for your reply.

I really don't know what to think.... I read about MCL and torn meniscus, but the symptoms are a bit different.

Like I have no swelling. But when I forget to turn my foot while turning my body (so twisting my knee) I feel a flash of pain....and afterwards I have a throbbing sensation at the outer side of my knee.

Went to the doctor...but he can only see me on monday, I will be travelling for work on sunday so no chance to see a doctor till after my travel...more than a week from now.

I will give the stationary bike a try and see how it feels.

Thanks again for your reply.

Steven Low · 01-29-2009, 09:08 AM

Twisting + pain sounds like meniscus to me. Could be LCL ( you said outside of knee) as well. Hopefully you don't have something like the unhappy triad -- ACL, MCL, meniscus.

I hope your doc is an ortho who see athletes. If not, you should go to one.

Greg Davis · 01-29-2009, 10:01 AM

Just go easy on it and make sure you get a diagnosis.

I tore my MCL rolling a while back:
http://www.cathletics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3438

Mohamed Arbi · 01-31-2009, 12:41 PM

Hiya,

Thanks for the advise.

I thought a bit on that before and decided to cancel the work trip as I would be working a lot of hours...probably overburden my knee.

Arranged for a GP appointment this tuesday. Am a bit worried that it will take me a long time out of training.
I might go and train just the technical side and just skip rolling....though that will be extremely hard to do, because that's the part of the training I really really enjoy.

Will let you know what happens.

Small question though...the GP is no ortho...should I press to get a referal for the ortho?

Rgds
Mohamed