UKC

I had a fall in January where my knees took a lot of the impact as I swung into the rock (i.e knees hit the rock). One is still swollen, and skin numb, the other gets a bit of pain too. Was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem, and if so do you have any tips for recovery? Was hoping they'd be alright for the alps in late June..... Thanks! 

Have you had the damage assessed by a medic at all? i.e. do you know what the problem is? Months to recover from simple impact damage (crushing, bruising) sounds a bit long.

Echo what CP says above - have you got a diagnosis of the problem(s)?  You really need to be sure of the issue(s) before you can come up with plan for recovery.

It was x-rayed at the time, no fracture or anything. Have an MRI in June and seeing a physio in a week so hopefully can get a bit more info. Was thinking the same, thought it would be better by now! 

Hopefully will do soon, figured in the meantime I'd check to see if anyone else has done something similar.

Sounds promising - hopefully the physio can find out what's wrong, and set you on the path to recovery.

Only 'impact' injury that I've had on a kneecap was the result of colliding with a boulder when trying to overtake a yak train in Nepal (20+ years ago).  Resulted in an enduring case of PFPS (Google 'cinema goers knee'...I kid you not)  Physio-suggested exercises eventually got rid of it.

Not heard that one before! Good to hear it went away with physio. 

Cartilage and other soft tissues don’t show up very well on x-ray so there may be some issues there, but whatever the cause there is often asymmetrical atrophy of the muscles around the knee after painful injury so the physio will be able to work on that and the MRI will give you much better information about soft tissue damage. Getting MRI reports can be a terrible long wait at the moment, if you have any medical insurance or are flush this might be the time to consider going private. 
 

I had a big fall last year (in January) - had lots of injuries - one of them was bilateral deep knee lacerations, so must have banged my knees pretty hard on the rock.  I went back to running quite soon after the stitches were removed (stupid, but i was really bored as could not climb or work much due to the other injuries).  My left knee clearly had something more wrong with it in the joint - I could run OKish but had lots of stiffness and pain afterwards and in general could not 100% straighten or 100% bend my knee - was just a few degrees off in both movements.  This meant I could not kneel on that side or put weight directly onto that knee as it was too painful. My IT band was also palpable clicking over the knee when I bent it.

I was seeing a sports physio at the time for something else so asked her to take a look.  She did some physio on it releasing up my popliteus muscle and also some work on my IT band.  I also stopped running on it for a few months - and now, 1 year on, it is close to being normal again.

Not sure that is particularly reassuring or relevant - but I did manage an Alps trip on it last July.

(I did not see a doctor about it as couldn't face the battle of getting an appointment - but that was wrong of me.)

Youtube "the knees over toes guy"

One possible result of this sort of impact, common enough to be known as a 'dashboard injury', is a partial or complete rupture of the PCL (the ligament that stops your lower leg from moving backwards if you push against the shin). I have one of these, caused by tripping and landing on a rock whilst out for a run. It can be hard to spot on a scan but a knee-specialist physio should be able to diagnose it with a simple pull-and-push joint mobility test, so make sure your physio checks that. Unlike an ACL rupture, which is immediately debilitating and usually requires surgery, a PCL rupture can be largely compensated for by the other ligaments and muscles around the knee and indeed mine was not diagnosed until years later when I started getting some issues with instability of the knee. Hopefully you don't have this, but if you do, the good news is that it should be entirely manageable if you keep your legs strong. I am still playing hockey and bouldering regularly, although I do have to be very cautious with heel hooks on the affected leg. 

Took a big fall last May sport climbing, full impact on the right knee. Double fracture to the tibial plateau and lateral fracture to the tibia, 1 plate 7 screws. Non weight bearing for 2 months, partial weight bearing another 2 months then plenty of physico. No high impact exercises running etc. It was a fine line between rest and exercises, cycling, walking, stretches. I learnt it's a very complex joint the knee tiny muscles and ligaments everywhere all with a purpose. Mine was a long road to a 80% recovery, but all injuries are different. Back indoor top roping and light bouldering, not the grade I was always concerned about a fall or knocking it. Good luck👍

I would certainly add anecdotally that some injuries can take a LONG time to recover from. A balance between not overloading the injury site but keeping it as active as possible.