# WTF is wrong with my knee?!?!



## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

So I'm usually pretty good at self-diagnosing feet and knee problems since I've had so many of them through hockey / football / tennis injuries growing up. But this one has me legit stumped.

Usually my right knee is my "problem" knee, but this pain is in my left knee.

The pain is at the top of the fibula bone at the insertion point of the extensor digitorum longus tendon. (Basically, where my calf muscle meets my knee, and on the outside side of my knee rather than in the middle)

I haven't fallen on it or done any external physical injuries to it.

Pain started one night before an epic pow day. But it was minor. I boarded all day and it didn't bug me during the day. The one thing to note is that I had just gotten my new snowboard boots (adidas tactical ADV) the day before the pow day and had been wearing them around the house. 

I wake up the day after the pow day and can barely move my leg.

Here's what's weird: 
1. It hurts the most when I move my ankle. 
2. It's been hurting for the last week and a half and hasn't gotten any better.

I'm guessing it's a tendon injury since it hurts when I intentionally flex the ankle (rotate it) but it doesn't hurt when I relax the ankle and manually move it with my hands.

But all of the tendon injuries for the extensor digitorum or the peroneus Longus (the other prime suspect) seem to occur in the ankles and have the ankles as the pain point. Mine is weird since when I rotate my ankle, it hurts at the bottom of my knee (top of the fibula).

Even weirder, the pain is worst at night when I'm not using it and seems not to hurt as much while I'm using it. 

If I put pressure on the outside side of my calf muscle, it also hurts... it's definitely a tendon or muscle or cord of some kind that goes all the way down the calf.

Any ideas? Snowboarding might not be responsible. It could be mtb or racquetball...


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Moat likely adidas boost.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

Argo said:


> Moat likely adidas boost.


Unlikely, since adidas boost is made out of sunshine, clouds, and happiness.


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## Wafflesx (Jan 24, 2014)

Could be so many things my dude. 

tibial plateau stress fractures

Patella Femoral Syndrome 

Pes Anserine Bursitits (or any other Bursa) 

Tendinitis - 

Does it hurt going down stairs? Does your knee lock at all? Did you have the boots before this? And it just started hurting out of no where? How active are you? How old are you; Previous injuries. 

Too much to answer over the internet without seeing it. Best answer is to take an NSAID like ibuprofen or naproxen if you are able. Rest, ICE if it doesn't get better in 2 weeks see a Specialist.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

Wafflesx said:


> Could be so many things my dude.
> 
> tibial plateau stress fractures
> 
> ...


These are great questions. I don't think it's a stress fracture since the pain seems to be based on actively using the tendon/muscle rather than movement itself, even if it isn't weighted.

I'm not familiar with bursitis. I will def look into this.

Knee isn't locking, and it doesn't hurt at all when I move it. It's weird but moving my ankle causes pain in the knee. But I guess it technically isn't the knee. I've attached a picture and I'm pointing at exactly where the root of the pain is. Sometimes it'll go down the calf (following the route of the tendons that start at that pain point) but that point I'm pointing to is definitely where it hurts the most.


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## Deacon (Mar 2, 2013)

This should probably be something you see an orthopedist about... but first... if you run your thumb down your tibial ridge, can you feel the gap between the muscle and the bone? If not, the muscle is very tight, and a good orthopedic massage could remedy.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

Deacon said:


> This should probably be something you see an orthopedist about... but first... if you run your thumb down your tibial ridge, can you feel the gap between the muscle and the bone? If not, the muscle is very tight, and a good orthopedic massage could remedy.


Good question.

When I run the hand down my tibial ridge I can feel the gap between it and the muscle. My tibia actually feels pretty good - the pain seems to be isolated to the muscles/tendons that run along the fibula.

Also, I should probably mention that my knee itself is swollen as fuck right now. I've had arthritis bad in the other knee but have been taking some pretty 
Intense TNFa inhibitors (humira / enbrel) for it. Because of this, I think it's safe to rule out arthritis - there's no way arthritis would develop randomly when I have such strong anti-arthritis medicine already cycling in my system and keeping my problem knee (the right one) clean.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

Also, although you can't see it because of the kt tape, there's slight bruising at the Head of the fibula. It looks like internal bruising though... makes me think I tore a tendon. Def didn't pull it fully though.

Must've been a stiff tendon that got torn by new boots and a heavy lean (pow day so I was leaning back).

I should mention that I ride goofy so my left leg is my rear leg and I was bombing on the pow day.


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## Wafflesx (Jan 24, 2014)

Seems like you have some kind of injury with Deep Peroneal nerve involvement. 


Makes me think more likely Proximal Fibular avulsion / stress fracture, but without serous injury doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe slight Fibular Dislocation. - Still possibly Meniscal tear

Moral of the story. Get an Xray


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