Painful Bump on Knee

On Apr. 1, I took a bad spill during a trail run and hurt my knee. It was swollen, bruised and had a deep cut. I went to an orthopedic surgeon and had it x-rayed and he found no fracture and no torn tendons. The swelling has gone away and I can walk a lot better than I had been, but I still have pain on a nickel-sized area on my knee cap, right where the worst of the cut was. There is a firm bump and every time I flex my knee beyond a certain point, it is painful (like a too tight rubberband). Anybody have any experience with this type of thing? I tried running on it a couple of days ago and only made it a quarter mile.

I'd say it's where the tissue has the most area to repair, including nerve endings. Since it's in a high movement area, I'd give it some time to heal by just running to the point of mild discomfort.

The lump sounds like it could be scar tissue formation, which explains the tight rubberband like sensation. It should slowly let up over time. I would gently try to stretch the area or massage it lightly around the area to loosen up the tissue. If you are too aggressive, it might aggravate the area so be careful of course. Listen to your body is a good rule of thumb. Eventually it will heal; perhaps not quickly enough, but it will do so.

jon c wrote:The lump sounds like it could be scar tissue formation, which explains the tight rubberband like sensation. It should slowly let up over time. I would gently try to stretch the area or massage it lightly around the area to loosen up the tissue. If you are too aggressive, it might aggravate the area so be careful of course. Listen to your body is a good rule of thumb. Eventually it will heal; perhaps not quickly enough, but it will do so.

That's exactly what I thought and what I would recommend as well. It should loosen up the more you work it, but don't be surprised if it's a little painful as you try to get it to loosen up.

I'm not positive that she'd recommend it on the knee, but this is usually where Wendy Miller chimes in with "Graston it." Paging Wendy, paging Wendy...

Mike MacLellan wrote:I'm not positive that she'd recommend it on the knee, but this is usually where Wendy Miller chimes in with "Graston it." Paging Wendy, paging Wendy...

I have a high pain tolerance when it comes to the muscle or IT Band, but I can't imagine Graston right on the knee cap--all bone. I will try running today and see if it loosens up.

Rather than Wendy's "graston", you might be able to use a foam roller, or stick, or even rolling pin to massage the area and see if the tissue "loosens" up if it is a knot. A self-massage approach since it is the knee cap.