How to Treat an Acute Knee Injury
Hurting your knee is awful. An acute injury is one that has just occurred to an otherwise healthy knee. Treating it will make the difference between long term injury or short term injury. This article will give you some advice on how to go about caring for an acute knee injury.
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Instructions
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Treating an Acute Knee injury
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Hurting your knee is serious business. The knee joint is one of the most important and easily injured joints on the body. Caring for an acute knee injury is critical. You must do it right. First, establish the seriousness of the injury.
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If the joint is dislocated, or if you feel a grinding pain, or see any evidence of blood from a broken bone - or if the knee swells to any larger than grapefruit size within the first hour - you need to seek immediate medical attention. A trip to the Emergency room is in order.
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Ice the knee immediately. No matter how bad it may hurt to get an ice pack on there, grit your teeth and get as much ice as you can packed around the joint. Elevate it right away. It needs to be waist high at least, an preferably you need to be lying down with the knee at or above your stomach level. Use the R.I.C.E. method - Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate.
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Wrap the knee. Make sure you have a large size Ace bandage and wrap the knee for support. It needs to be tight enough to give your joint the support it needs to stay straight, yet not so tight it cuts off circulation.
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Get to a doctor - preferably an orthopedic doctor. Knees are no joke, do not think you can "tough it out". Many knee injuries can be treated successfully by a professional without surgery - but only if you get it properly diagnosed and treated. Once a knee is seriously injured and if it is not cared for properly, you are very likely to have trouble with it for the remainder of your life.
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Tips & Warnings
Always ALWAYS see a doctor about an acute knee injury.
Never ignore a serious knee injury. It can cost you the health of your joint.
