Help, something's come adrift in my knee....

[Rotaree]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might have happened to my knee. Most of the time it feels fine but then, as I'm walking it will feel as if something is 'jamming' the joint and is stunningly painful for a few minutes; my feeling is that a piece of cartilage has come adrift if that's possible. The only thing I can think that may have caused it is having tripped over on Wednesday I fell quite heavily onto my knee although didn't suffer any bruising or anything much else at the time. I know I really ought to go and see the doctor but work is at a fairly critical point and I don't want be 'signed off' so I was hoping for some (ideally non-invasive!) suggestions as to treatment.

Any ideas?

[The_Doc]

What you describe is "Locking"

I suggest: GP, tell him you have locking, he'll send you to a surgeon (like me) and I'll probably suggest keyhole surgery (usually 20mins under anaesthetic)

Or if you are rich, find a private surgeon (like me) on a BUPA website and do the same in 1 week instead of 2 months.

[Rotaree]

Will, thank you for your reply. I suspected that would be the case. As I said in the original post now is not a good time workwise to declare a dodgy knee (working on a ship, so would be straight off I came clean); is there anything I can do in the short term to mitigate the problem and what is likely to happen if I continue to try and ignore it?

[The_Doc]

If this is the problem, then it's a purely mechanical issue. You do less with your knee, it's less likely to lock.
Leave it alone and the symptoms may go away without further problem, but usually don't. Usually nothing dangerous about it unless you get to a position where you cannot fully straighten the knee.(Lay on bed and put your palm under the knee, you should be able to squash your hand) This needs more urgent treatment.

[Rotaree]

Thanks again. I'll put up with for a while and see how I get on then get it sorted at a more convenient moment.

Tim