Treatment For Knee Muscle Sprain

Posted on Tue, 28 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 Answered on

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : About a week and a half ago, I went for a long walk and at the end of it my knee was quite painful. I rested it and the next day it was a lot better, but since then there has been a bit of pain once in a while and sometimes a little twinge of pain. There was some swelling on the front, medial, distal side of the knee when it first happened. I can walk fine but it hurts some when I go up stairs or get up from sitting. What is causing this, and what can I do about it?

Answered by Dr. Saurabh Gupta (4 hours later)

Brief Answer: Muscle sprain or a muscle fibers tear. Detailed Answer: Hello, Thanks for your query. The pain that you have is likely to be due to a muscle sprain or a muscle fibers tear due to an injury or exertion. Since the pain is persistent for last couple of weeks it needs to be investigated. MRI scan is the investigation of choice to detect any such soft tissue abnormalities. In the meanwhile, for symptomatic relief: 1. Give enough rest to knee. 2. Take mild pain killers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. 3. Stronger prescription NSAIDS with muscle relaxants may help if simple analgesics do not help. 4. Hot compresses to your knee be useful pain relieving measure. You may apply a local analgesic gel on that area. I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query. Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar