Case Summary  |  A fall in the shower

I was standing inside my shower/tub, the kind with sliding glass doors where you have to step over the tub's side to exit. I realized after washing my hair that I had forgotten my face wash outside on the vanity countertop, so with the water running and still wet I exited, grabbed the face wash, and went to step over the tub and back inside. I slipped, hitting my shoulder and head painfully against the tiles and ended up on the bottom of the tub with my left knee twisted and already starting to swell.

I managed to rinse off, but by this time I realized my shoulder was hurting far less than when I tried to straighten or move my left leg. I had to crawl out of the tub and scoot out of the bathroom since I couldn't bear any weight on it.

I took NSAIDs (naproxen, ibuprofen) for the pain and swelling, and also wrapped it for periods in an ice sling. I knew it wasn't broken-- the only pain came when trying to straighten the leg or bear weight on it. After a day the knee swelled to twice its normal size, and then started to abate (while the pain did not).

I headed to the doctor, a referral from my primary to a sports injury/muscoskeletal specialist who examined me. She said it was difficult to determine what the damage was exactly (ACL vs MCL) since I couldn't remember exactly how I fell, more specifically how the leg bent incorrectly when I went down, and ordered x-rays to determine there was no broken damage. Thankfully not-- the diagnosis came back as an MCL sprain, not a tear. I wouldn't need surgery, but physical therapy and sets of specialized exercises would set me to rights.

I still have a lingering "tension" in the injured knee; I can feel it not fully bearing my weight as before. I never had problems with my knees, but now I can feel that even my right leg's knee hurts when I walk for long periods, as I have not gained enough strength back in the left and the right compensates. I still have to deliberately extend, retract, and lift my left leg when walking-- I tend to walk and not favor it now, a remnant of the injury when I could barely lift it to walk. Most days there is nothing more than a slight pinch to remember the strain, but I still am working on stretching and working it as I am afraid it will only get worse as I age.