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Lump on kneecap after falling
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I went down running on some trails in May and hit my knee cap pretty hard on a rock. I has some pretty significant bruising and pain but the knee seemed to fine structurally. I took most of June off to be safe as it was still bruised and painful to touch and would just hurt periodically. I returned to running in July, have been running and biking with no issue other than some general stiffness, ever ran a marathon last weekend no with internal knee issues/pain..

There is still a pretty good sized lump on my kneecap. It has been several months since the fall, the bruising ran its course but the hard lump remains. It does hurt when external pressure is applied to the spot (like kneeling on the knee or crawling) and does randomly get still from time to time it seems. Some sleuthing on the interweb reveals it is not uncommon to have such a lump/bump - which is essentially scaring - after heavy bruising.

Questions: should I expect this to go away on its own and if so, how long? Is there really anything I should be doing to help the scar tissue dissipate? Any experiences with this?
Last edited by: JeffJ: Sep 5, 15 4:45
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Re: Lump on kneecap after falling [JeffJ] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds less like scaring and more like a traumatic prepatellar bursitis. Usually self limiting. NSAIDs, possible burial injection are options if it continues to be symptomatic. See an ortho doc if you're bothered by it.
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Re: Lump on kneecap after falling [JeffJ] [ In reply to ]
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It sounds like a lump on a bone. If so it will take a while to dissipate - possibly over a year.

I managed to pick one of these up on the very outside tip of my fibula from a fall. A lump appeared on the bone - sensitive to pressure. IIRC it took over a year to dissipate. From what I remember reading at the time, it's bone growth which remodels back to normal shape over time. Also had one on a rib that I cracked (although no sensitivity); the lump there took a few years to dissipate.
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Re: Lump on kneecap after falling [JeffJ] [ In reply to ]
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Had this happen when a entitled piece of concrete reached up and grabbed my toes just as I was coming off a curb, thereby causing me to pitch forward. While I banged both knees, it was the left one that took the brunt of the fall and luckily it wasn't the knee cap, but the bone just to left of the knee cap. This happened back in mid-late July and finally swelling/bruising/little pain has subsided within the last several weeks. I made sure to ice it post run and a few days after runs (strangely didn't effect running) .
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Re: Lump on kneecap after falling [EndlessH2O] [ In reply to ]
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I managed to do the same thing a month ago. Caught the front of my right shoe on the sidewalk and went down HARD on my left side. Hit my head and shoulder, too, but my knee took the brunt of the impact. When I got up, it was just a little bloody, and I was still several miles from home, so I finished my run. At home, my wife pointed out that it looked like I had a golf ball growing out of my kneecap. Didn't hurt, though. Reluctantly, I took a few weeks off, fearing I had really messed my knee up. When I couldn't stand just swimming anymore, I slowly started running and biking again. At first it felt "rubbery" or stringy, but no sharp or dull pain. Now, 5 weeks later, the scabs are healed, the bruising around the knee is gone, but I'm left with what looks like a nickel-sized slightly raised bump or swelling on my kneecap. It only hurts if I put pressure on it by kneeling. Occasionally, after a run, my whole knee will feel tight, like it's been shrinkwrapped, but not always. Still, there's no real pain. Prepatellar bursitis?
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Re: Lump on kneecap after falling [JeffJ] [ In reply to ]
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I did the same many years ago - running at full tempo tilt into a concrete telephone pole with my left knee-cap striking first . . don't ask.

Really bad bruising initially, but it subsided in a few weeks. Knee never really felt the same after that. Ironically this was my gate-way into triathlon. I had started to dabble. Knee was OK, but was always stuff and sore.

Had arthroscopic surgery on it about a year after the bruising, and the surgeon confirmed that I had probably micro fractured the patella and the ramming of the patella into the head of the femur on the collision and done some damage to the back-side or articular surface of the patella. They cleaned that up with the scope, and since then my knee's bee reasonably good for 30+ years :)


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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