Can your knee heal itself after injury?

As a London knee specialist who deals with a wide variety of knee conditions, the short answer is yes, but it depends on the type of injury, your own musculoskeletal health and what kind of rehabilitation plan has been put in place.

There are many types of injuries where the knee heals very well with time and a good rehabilitation plan. Some examples include bone bruising, medial collateral ligament injuries, and tendinitis.

Bone bruising can occur when the knee suffers a direct impact or repetitive stress type injury. This is best diagnosed on an MRI scan after a clinical examination. Bone bruising is similar to skin bruising but deeper. It does however take longer to heal than skin bruising. Low vitamin D can predispose to bone bruising. Usually bone bruising is managed with a reduction of impact activities, sometimes using crutches, and correcting any biochemical abnormalities in the blood such as vitamin D deficiency.

Meniscal tears can also scar up after injury, although they may not always fully heal to being the same as they were before the injury. Evidence shows that most meniscus tears can be managed with a combination of activity modification and physiotherapy.

There are many other forms of injury that can heal Including tendinitis resulting from repetitive stress, and some ligament injuries.

At the Sports healing clinic, led by Assoc Professor Chinmay Gupte, we will take a thorough history to assess your knee injury and also examine the knee. We will apply the 20 years of experience that professor Gupté has had since he did a PhD on knee injuries. we always try the non-operative, non-interventional solution first and explore whether activity modification and physiotherapy will help you get your knee back into full performance. It is likely that you will need either an x-ray or an MRI scan to diagnose the injury further.

X-rays, in general provide information about the state of the bones, whether there is arthritis or a break in the bone. They do not however, give an indication as to soft tissue injury in most cases. An MRI scan is a much more detailed investigation of both the bone and soft tissues. Although it is more time-consuming and often costs more than x-rays, it can provide a greater degree of information. At the Sports healing clinic led by associate Professor Gupté, we have direct access to both forms of imaging.

Sometimes an ultrasound may also help especially in the case of tendinitis or ligament injuries.

If you would like further information please do contact us on +44, 2074835160. Or make an appointment here