How long should I wait for a sports injury to heal?

Question

Hi doctor,

Two years ago, I felt a pop while playing football. My physiotherapist said I have torn my cartilage and so, he advised me to take rest. It felt good. After 18 months, when I played football again for half an hour, I felt the pain. So, I visited a different physiotherapist, and he advised me to go with some exercise for a 4 to 6 weeks every day. I am visiting him every week. While playing in the pool on Friday, it gave way again, and I could not straighten my legs.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Thank you for providing a brief history.

As you had this injury persisting for 2 years now, I will advise getting a proper examination with the physiotherapist you have been seeing for now and provide me the reports. Because the muscles must have got weaker and there will be a muscle imbalance due to which there is difficulty in straightening the leg now.

I think an MRI of the knee will be helpful as in the beginning what I feel is it was left untreated and due to this it has become a chronic injury. Doing balance board training should help regain the correction of the muscle imbalance. Also, do reverse jogging and provide good core stability exercises. In my clinical practice of over 12 years, most sports injury cases take up to 12 weeks which has helped them to have a good outcome score.