My daughter fell on a concrete sidewalk.
Took her to the Doctor.
She has a knee contusion.
The pain is the same... not better and she has lessened mobility in her knee.
She is on crutches.
It happened 3 days ago.
It is not broken.
She has to naturally not do any physical activity and can't.
Fortunately, her class mates are helping her get around and carrying things for her.
Apparently, these things can take a LONG time to heal????
Has anyone had a knee contusion or their child????
I'm calling the Pediatrician again, to ask questions. But the Doctor is not in today.
He said to come back in in 1 week for a follow-up.
But my daughter's pain is the same, not better. Not worse. But she still has pain. Even if given Motrin.
She gets pain whenever... whether just sitting down or doing anything.
She can't put weight on that leg.
I was going to take her to the Urgent care office, since her Doctor is not in today, but they don't take our insurance.
So just putting the question out there, if anyone has had experience with this or their child.
Also, so we did the ice-pack thing up to 48 hours after her accident. So now do we put warm packs on her knee??? And how often and for how long?
THANK you!
Well so today (Saturday) my daughter woke up... and she could walk!
The pain has subsided and is not as severe... and she can now extend her leg more and bear more weight on it.
Yippee!
It is healing!
Yep, also put Arnica Gel on her knee last night before bed.
And continued to do ice packs.
She still has discoloration and swelling... but her pain has improved.
Yah!
I am so relieved.
Yes, I know a contusion is a 'bruise.' But it can also be a surface or deep contusion and some affect the bone or nerves, muscles as well.
Her knee is better, but still is sensitive when touched or like yesterday, she bumped it by accident.
She is 9 years old.
THANK you to everyone for your advice!
I know this.....alternate hot and cold...20 minutes hot...20 minutes nothing...20 minutes cold...etc...good luck...I know about pain...believe me.
Cold packs for pain. After reading the below listed site, I think it sounds like your daughter is doing just fine. Bruises take time to heal. Three days is such a short period of time. Think of a regular bruise, a black and blue spot. It's still tender after 3 days. A knee contusion is a more serious bruise.
http://www.freemd.com/knee-contusion/overview.htm
Well, a contusion is a bruise... which can certainly hurt for a while even when it's superficial... so to still have pain after 3 days of a more serious bruise seems reasonable...
but she's now having trouble putting weight on it and it's causing constant pain? If it's that serious, I'd take her back for a second look, maybe they missed something the first time.
If not, I'd probably start encouraging her to move more normally on it and be wary of exaggerating the pain. Immobalizing her knee probably isn't your best bet unless the doctor specifically said to do that... otherwise you're going to add muscle stiffness to the bruising and she won't feel better at all.
HTH
T.
I get bruises all the time as do my kids some on the knees usually from falling off their bike at high speeds. Are you sure there isn't other damage to the knee you are not listing or weren't told about? This seems a bit much for just a bruise.
Yes, this happened to my then 11 yo daughter our first day of vacation in disney world. Ugh! She ended up with bursitis and needed physically therapy for a few weeks but healed completely.
Sounds like a really bad bruise. They can take a while to heal. However, if you think there is something else going on, get a second opinion, or get it x-rayed if you are worried about it. It could be something or nothing, but it's better know it's nothing than to wonder if something's worse, right?
Arnica Montana (topically and orally) can work great.
My friend's son did the same thing, but it was SUPER swollen and they thought he might have torn something. They took him to their chiropractor, who does extremity adjusting and he was adjusted a couple of times that week, she also did therapeutic ultrasound 3 days in a row and then adjusted his knee, ankle and pelvis one more time the week after. He's perfect. Oh yeah, and she gave him some cal/mag supplement for pain and tissue healing with something called Ligaplex 1 for acute injuries that also helps with pain and any ligament damage, no matter how slight.
No heat. Ice for 10-15 minutes max at a time.
Ice only. This is a "new" injury (ice a new injury, heat an old - general rule) so unless the doctor wants heat then only do ice - but not for more than 15 minutes at a time (15 on and 15 off).
Knee injuries can take a while to heal - and it sounds like she is not in excruciating pain, right? If she is I would take her in otherwise I would wait the week and take her back. It could be something more serious if she is in a lot of pain (not just "pulled muscle" pain, but more sharp pain could mean something else is going on with her knee)
Ask the doctor how much motrin to give her (at higher levels it is an anti-inflamatory that can help reduce her swelling etc. in addition to taking pain away - but I dont know at her age how much they would allow (when I was 15 I hurt my knee but I was basically full grown so they allowed me to take 600mg at a time -- check with her doctor to see what is OK).
Good luck
I am not a doctor (and would check with one) -- but ice is to take down inflammation -- which is typically what you want to do for a bruise. I would not use heat however (as some have suggested) -- as ,while that is is recommended for sprains and muscle aches, in a bruise/hematoma -- where there is a swell of blood, it would only increase the swelling and inflammation. You would not put heat on a head bump either (only ice).
But please call your doctor to get some info on follow up care.
A contusion is just a technical way of saying "bruise". Some bruising takes longer to heal than others. A bruised joint will be more sore than a bruise on another part of the body.
