What are the symptoms for a pulled knee muscle?

Question

I was at soccer practice and I made a cut to move the ball around a person and when I stepped down, I heard a loud pop! I haven't been able to bend my leg or walk on it regularly since then (which was 2 days ago). I can finally straighten it, but I can't bend it more than 90 degrees, if that! I know it can't be a torn ACL, but my doctor said that it might just be a bad muscle pull. Could someone please tell me the symptoms for a muscle pull? Thanks! Oh and how long it takes for it to heal so I can go back to soccer!

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

You're leg muscles directly affect how your knee tracts in place - so while you favour (or your body unconciously favours) that muscle it will change how your knee sits in place - which is what would be causing you the associated knee pain.

Really you'll just have to let the muscle fix itself up and then hopefully the knee relief will follow. Relax relax relax!

Sometimes I'll use heat if I am sure it is a muscle (don't do this on joints (so not on your knee - or anything with swelling related with it!) to encourage blood to the site to help with repair and also for relaxation purposes. Some people prefer heat to ice on muscle pulls.

A wrap around your leg might help release some of the pull on your knee.

I'll go out on a limb and say you'll be feeling improvement by next weekend. Depends how serious a pull those splits managed