Lingering knee injury

Doctors,

Nine weeks ago I injured my knee stuck in halfguard lockdown during a BJJ match. I struggled hard(stupidly) against the lock he had on my leg and we heard a loud pop, but I didn’t feel anything at the time. After the match, my knee felt a little weird, but it wasn’t until the next day that it got stiff and achy. I could still walk fine and didn’t really feel any instability.

At first I couldn’t extend or bend it through the last 5 degrees of both ends of ROM, but I was able to squat within a couple days and even squatted 465(a PR) 4 weeks after the injury. Fully extending the knee against a load caused significant pain for several weeks, but that has mostly gone away. However, after 4 more weeks it still feels achy after I sit for a long period of time and I’m still unable to kneel on it because of pain behind my knee with extreme flexion. I also sense a slight click or pop when bending the knee through 90 degrees, but it’s barely perceptible unless I get hyper-focused on it. I also feel some small tendons or something snap over my lateral knee when bending and extending, but I’m not sure if that was always there or if I’m just associating that with the injury since I’m more sensitive about my knee now. I don’t feel any instability when moving laterally, jumping, etc.

I’m about 6 weeks out from a powerlifting meet right now, so I’ve stopped BJJ at least until after the meet. This injury has me rethinking BJJ since powerlifting is my passion and I don’t want to lose my ability to compete. I’m 39yo and have been strength training for over 20yrs, but only training BJJ for a few years.

Am I correct in thinking that I should just keep training for my meet and eventually this will work itself out? I remember Austin Baraki saying that most injuries will heal within 6 weeks, but this one is hanging on.

Aaron

So that is describing my exact left knee. I injured it stepping off a curb with a weighted satchel on. I heard the pop as well and my symptoms are just as you describe them. Only difference is that I have been dealing with it since December 2017.

The strange this is there there doesn’t seem to be stability or strength issues. Just the pain when bent.

I walk with weight on my hips and shoulders for work and there doesn’t seem to be any issues with the walking.

Very curious on the the answer and will be watching intently.

Thanks

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I talked to an orthopaedic surgeon a couple days after the injury, and he thought that I may have slightly torn my joint capsule. He didn’t think the injury was very serious. He did not examine the knee though. He also told me that systolic blood pressure never goes above 200mm even when weight training or the vascular system would be permanently damaged, so that didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in his general medical knowledge.

My knee seems to keep getting slightly better every day, and I’m hoping I’ll have pain-free ROM eventually if I just keep training normally.

Sorry to hear about the knee issue. The good news, based on your last comment, it sounds like things are improving. We would need a consult on this to provide insight and help guide the path: Contact Us | Barbell Medicine