Weird knee swelling

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I'm seeing a doc next week, but thought I would see if anyone else has had this problem before.

About a month ago I started getting some swelling in my left knee. No pain, no trauma and no major changes in training - it just swelled up out of the blue. It got increasingly swollen over the course of a few days, eventually making it hard to straighten my leg and walk normally. Then I noticed the swelling suddenly went down (in a matter of an hour), and my calf became tender for a day or so. A day later, fluid had pooled around my achilles tendon. Again, no trauma and no pain. The fluid in my ankle went away over the course of a day or so, and then the knee was close to normal, with only light swelling. The whole cycle took about a week. A few days later, the cycle repeated: swelling increased in knee, suddenly went down, calf sore, ankle blows up like a balloon, then dissipates. Another few days go by, and the cycle repeats AGAIN.

What the heck, collective-wisdom-of-Paceline-Forum? Anything in particular I should be asking about next week?

[Louis]

Weird. All my knee issues have involved soreness.

Have you tried Googling "swollen knee" ?

Have you recently changed your cycling habits or position?

Anything happen non bike-related?

[thwart]

Kinda sounds like a ruptured Baker's cyst, although recurring like that... ? That would be unusual.

[FlashUNC]

You've totally ruled out alien implants?

[Ardan MacNessa]

Could be pseudogout or an infection in the fluid surrounding the knee cap. Only one leg, correct? Swelling pronounced back and front of the knee joint, correct? I'd almost say pseudogout but usually it'll attack both limbs. Have you looked for tiny pick marks, like a bite or scratch of some insignificant size in that area? No pain eliminates a bursitus in my book. Lymph nodes sore anywhere? Under arm pits or behind the knees? Tenderness?

Let us know after your visit.

Best of luck.

[Ardan MacNessa]

You've totally ruled out alien implants?
Aliens don't need a host any longer to survive here. They're welcomed with open economic arms and all means. We'll rule out aliens.

LOL

[enr1co]

Ocasionally would experience "water on the knee" - overproduction of synovial fluid at the knee cap area. Was told this was caused when you dont warm up sufficiently you body is overcompensating with the synovial fluid to lube the joints. Wearing knee warmers seemed to help by keeping the joint warm, hence less fluid being generated.

Never got to the point of it being painful or the fluid moving to different areas of the leg to cause pain- it just looked kinda weird and bulbous on my knee but eventually went away.

Definitely good move to see an expert as it doesnt sound like its just overproduction of synovial fluid.

[Ardan MacNessa]

Definitely good move to see an expert as it doesnt sound like its just overproduction of synovial fluid.
One knee though, that's what's thrown me off the synovial path. Did you have it isolated in just one knee during your encounters?

[FastforaSlowGuy]

It's a weird one. Just the left knee; the right is a-okay. And I cannot explain why or who all that swelling migrates down to my ankle, but I'm pretty sure that's what happens. My wife has barred me from doing any more Googling of this until I see a doctor. She seems to think - justifiably so - that I use web searches as a way of postponing medical visits. I've wondered about gout or a similar condition, but I guess I usually think of that being associated with older individuals (I'm 35), heavier or obese people (I'm not overweight), or those who smoke/drink a lot (non-smoker, 2 drinks a week).

The visible swelling is actually on the sides of the knee, occupying the cavities between the various tendons, muscles and lateral to the knee cap. As it gets worse, it causes the back of my knee to lock up, feeling like the hamstring has seized and not allowing my leg to fully straighten.

[jh_on_the_cape]

Have you been bitten by a tick recently?
Lyme can do this.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I hope not! I had Lyme a couple years ago. I remember the feeling, and it was a whole body experience. Like the flu but with aching all over. Definitely not the same thing this time around.

[charliedid]

Hope you're okay. Strangely, we had a customer in yesterday with a similar issue.

Mystery

[EDS]

I'm seeing a doc next week, but thought I would see if anyone else has had this problem before.

About a month ago I started getting some swelling in my left knee. No pain, no trauma and no major changes in training - it just swelled up out of the blue. It got increasingly swollen over the course of a few days, eventually making it hard to straighten my leg and walk normally. Then I noticed the swelling suddenly went down (in a matter of an hour), and my calf became tender for a day or so. A day later, fluid had pooled around my achilles tendon. Again, no trauma and no pain. The fluid in my ankle went away over the course of a day or so, and then the knee was close to normal, with only light swelling. The whole cycle took about a week. A few days later, the cycle repeated: swelling increased in knee, suddenly went down, calf sore, ankle blows up like a balloon, then dissipates. Another few days go by, and the cycle repeats AGAIN.

What the heck, collective-wisdom-of-Paceline-Forum? Anything in particular I should be asking about next week?

Not likely to be what is happening to you, but that sounds like what happens to me when I have a flare up of my rheumatoid arthritis.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Kinda sounds like a ruptured Baker's cyst, although recurring like that... ? That would be unusual.

Thwart wins. Test results are back, and it looks like it's a Baker's cyst that ruptured and is leaking into the leg. Apparently the recurring pattern is not uncommon. The root cause appears to be a very small tear/abrasion of the meniscus. The fluid came back fine, and they are now just waiting to see whether there were crystals in there. Those results will not affect the short term treatment options, though, which are:

Option A: Have them scope the knee and fix the meniscus, leave the Baker's cyst alone, and hope that the newly-smooth meniscus means that the knee will no longer overproduce fluid. Recovery time: 10-14 days before any serious riding, 3-4 weeks before I can race.

Option B: Scope the knee, fix the meniscus AND remove the Baker's cyst. Adding that last bit ensure that the problem is gone, but stretches recovery out by quite a lot. I probably could not ride in any serious way for 4-6 weeks and could not race for 10-12 weeks.

I think this may require a night's sleep and a small glass of scotch (not in that order).

[Louis]

Good to hear that they figured it out.

Obviously different people have different priorities, but I would choose the option that gives me the best likelihood of having no long-term issues, even though recovery may be a bit longer, rather than the option that allowed me to race as quickly as possible, if that option might have somewhat higher long-term risks.

In weighing cost/risk vs benefit it's sometimes difficult to balance the short and long term issues. Good luck with your treatment.

[ultraman6970]

Remember many years ago a guy in my team, similar problem in the knee. Surgery was not like a super option because we needed the guy, the doctor had a professional soccer team background so the point of view was pretty much... "we have the guy playing asap."

So this kid went over like 3 or 4 injections of cant remember what, steroids I believe... right in the affected area (right in the center of the knee), after like 2 months problem gone but darn you have to suck it up big time because have the needle in the knee was not fun.

[Ardan MacNessa]

I think this may require a night's sleep and a small glass of scotch (not in that order).
Please keep us informed of your decision and post op results.

Here's rooting for you!

[arazate]

I don't want to alarm you, but you have similar symptoms to what I had, DVT. Deep vein thrombosis. I was out on a biking vacation in Tucson a couple of years ago, calf was bugging me for a few days. Went to the emergency room, and basically the valves in my vein were blocked, causing a blockage in the vein. Not a good thing!

I would head to the doctor earlier, they can do an easy ultrasound test.

Best of luck, if you want to chat more about it, send me a note. I spent a week in Tucson hospital.
AJ

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I've done the cortisone shot thing before (for a bulging disc that cropped up just before an "A" race), but the lessons of that experience were (a) even with the shot, your not racing, just surviving; (b) it would take a lot of shots to get me through the season, and outside of professional sports no responsible doc will give you that many; and (c) it doesn't change that fact that you will eventually have to do the deed and either recover or go under the knife.

My thinking at the moment is to go all in and get it out of the way in a single blow. I could probably do some easy spinning by July 1, real miles by August 1, and hard riding in September. Heck, maybe it'll give me an excuse to give cross a try.

[shovelhd]

Cross is for crazy people. Stick to the road. :)

I concur with your preference. Get it out of the way. One season isn't the end of the world. Maybe you have a shot at the Mayor's Cup or Jamestown if you can balance the healing and training well enough.

Good luck.