how to treat sprained knees?

[wushuguy]

when i was in high school I had injured my knees in a mountain biking accident. the knee weakness, pain, inflammation flare up once in a while, and recently i moved a few boxes up some stairs, total weight about 600lbs. and my knees are killing me. I was wondering, have any of you guys who are more knowledgeable in some traditional healing methods dealt with recurring injury or old injury that returns? what's the best way to treat it?

 

[Bumblebee]

Your knee is probably fine now. With sprains, I usually go with the RICE method. It's not exactly traditional as it is modern medicine that you learn if you ever go see a doctor. RICE is an acronym for:

Rest
Ice
Compress
Elevate

The rest is for obvious reasons. Your joint, your knee in this instance, is injured. If you keep using it, you'll only make it worse.

The Ice is to reduce swelling. Be sure not to over-ice your joint as this can cause more harm than good. Generally what I've found in my own experience is to ice it for about 10-15 minutes and make sure that the ice or ice pack isn't directly against your skin. Put a paper towel or something inbetween.

Compressing the joint is basically just wrapping it up to ensure the joint stays in place and also to give you support.

Elevate is kind of the same idea as the ice in that the idea is to reduce swelling. Swelling is caused by increased blood flow in the affected area. Elevating the injured limb above your heart will help the blood from, uh causing swelling. And when I mean above your heart, for an injured knee you'll want to lay down and prop your leg up at the knee with a pillow or a few pillows.

I hope this helps if there's a next time.

Now, what I want to know is how do you fix a torn meniscus without surgery? I tried to rehab my knee, but it's been 6 months since my injury and I still feel pain when I bend my knee all the way.

 

[Malleus]

Your knee is probably fine now. With sprains, I usually go with the RICE method. It's not exactly traditional as it is modern medicine that you learn if you ever go see a doctor.

Good call. RICE is a handy way to deal with sprains. You may also consider taking an NSAID like aspirin to augment it: not only will it dull the pain, but it also acts directly to reduce inflammation.

Now, what I want to know is how do you fix a torn meniscus without surgery? I tried to rehab my knee, but it's been 6 months since my injury and I still feel pain when I bend my knee all the way.

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't really any way to fix a torn meniscus without some surgery. The reason is that the meniscal cartilage is poorly perfused with blood, making it pretty incapable of repairing itself. Glucosamine is a supplement that's supposed to help protect cartilage, but I don't think there'll be much chance of regeneration. Sorry!