Knee area pain after fall

[jejack]

It’s been just over two months after my fall. (Went over my handle bar and banged the top of my tibia -just below the knee cap- on the road.)

Cycled home and could feel a sharp mild pain below my knee cap, mostly out the saddle cycling.
Its been two months and that sensation has stayed pretty much the same since.
If I stand for long periods my knee gets stiff until I bend it. At night while watching TV and in the morning I get a mild aching feeling around the area.
Walking up and down stairs, sharp mild pain below the knee cap around my tibia.

I can handle all of that to a certain extent but its walking that is the most uncomfortable, I cant seem to walk without a slight limp and running is out of the question as it feels like I loose my balance on that leg.

So what have I done?
RICE for the first few weeks. No major improvements so I moved over to stretching the leg everyday no real improvement.
Kept on cycling, loads of PRs on strava so performance on the bike is no real issue as long as I stay in the saddle.

Yesterday I finally went to my GP, she could not figure it out with a basic exam, she did say maybe Meniscus but I have my doubts because of the top of my tibia hitting the road.

She gave me two options, Xray or MRI and did that paper work for both and left it up to me to choose.

Question is, and bearing in mind cost, what route should I go? I’m based in Perth so any local knowledge on cost would be well welcomed.

[foo on patrol]

My understanding is.....MRI is way more detailed in its discoveries.

Foo

[sogood]

Simple.

If budget is a concern, then get an X-ray (bulk billed) and see. It would exclude bony injuries and not much more. If nothing identified, then a MRI may still be required to further elucidate the problem.

If budget is not of concern, then get the MRI to see everything.

[g-boaf]

MRI would be the go.

But have you tried Glucosamine/chondroitin tablets. These may help.

You could also try fish-oil tablets. But for me it was the glucosamine that had amazing results. However I'd recommend getting the scans done too.

[gorilla monsoon]

And after you have your scan or x-ray sign-up for private health insurance for any future OTB moments.

Mrs Monsoon came off 18 months ago and cracked her knee cap, among other things. Doc visit, x-rays, physio, more doc visits and more physio all add up and private cover allays some of that cost.

Can't believe you had a stack and have taken two months to actually do anything about it.