Anyone with expertise in sports injuries?

[missypie]

DH and I are both very unathletic, so we're at a total loss when our kids have sports related injuries. Twelve days ago, DD10 fell off the uneven bars at her gym and landed on her knee and she is still complaining that it hurts and isn't getting better. DD is a pretty tough little girl, so I believe her that it hurts.

Where do I start? Do I take her to the pediatrician and see what he thinks? My fear is that he won't really know and will just tell her not to work out for a few weeks, which would cause her to miss some meets. Or should we take her to a specialist right away? Our insurance plan has a very high deductible, so I'm paying it all out of pocket no matter what I do.

 

[mamacatnv]

From a Mom with a very athletic son.

Since the insurance is an issue, I would suggest some rest, get off the knee, hang on the couch use it as little as possible for a couple of days and see how it goes. She may have bruised her knee and since she is still working it, the injury doesn't have time to heal. Missing a couple of meets is better than long term problems. Motrin is a good anti-inflammatory and the old standby of ice never hurt.

If insurance was not an issue I would ask your ped for a referral to an orthopedist or knee person. My Chiropractor actually deals with a lot of my sons injuries ie.. twists & tweaks, muscle strain etc and he is a lot cheaper than a specialist. It is possible that something is fractured, torn or just severely bruised. The problem is they are still growing and that seems to aggravate what to us seem to be minor injuries.

MamaCatNV

 

[mudnuri]

well, being a mom of 2 athletic girls, and also a ACL injury myself in highschool, I'd say take her to the ped's and get a referral for the orthapedist.

Generally you can work out a payment plan with the docs- knee's are not something to just wait and see, if it is a ligament injury, it wont just get better on it's own.

My acl injury was severe enough that I couldnt bear weight, but prior to that, I had torn small fragments of my miniscus, and also strained tendons along my knee- those were minor compared to the ACL, but still caused pain.

Get it checked out

Brandy

 

[christineann]

I would not take any chances with a possible knee injury - if left untreated, it could lead to more serious problems later. Was this at a school or during a class or with a coach? My daughter had knee surgery because of a basketball injury, and the school insurance policy paid all out of pocket expenses after my primary insurance paid its share.

I would take her in anyway.

 

[Divamomto3]

Just had my ACL reconstructed in August 2005. I had no pain whatsoever, just couldn't bear weight after that nauseating "pop." I hope what your DD has is just bruising. Is she limping or is her knee "giving out?"

Hugs to you...the insurance thing sucks.

 

[golfgal]

I was a college athletic trainer and since you are paying out of pocket anyway, skip the ped and go right to the orthopedic doc. The ped is going to tell her to stay off it for a few weeks and that is about it where as an orthopod is going to figure out what the issue is, treat it, then rehab it so it is back to full strength. Not knocking ped's at all, but this isn't their area of expertise.