Weird knee pain

I have a "bad" right knee due to an injury about 10 years ago which will sometimes act up, get swollen and hurt after exercise. The other day, I was getting into the passenger seat of my car and accidently hit that knee really hard on the side of the glove box. It hit on the side of my kneecap and pushed it sideways. Hurt really bad!

This was about 3 days ago, and my knee has been bothering me a little, but yesterday, I went to Disneyland and was on my feet walking all day and suddenly my knee really started to hurt, but it's a very weird pain, on the backside of my knee-doesn't hurt when I bend it, but when it's being extended. I'm having trouble walking normally. This is not normal knee pain for me, so I was just wondering if anyone else here has ever experienced this? 

I Googled my symptoms and one of the sites said that kneecap pain can sometimes be felt in this area, behind the knee, but I don't know...it feels more like a tendon or something maybe? But that doesn't really make sense that I would have injured a tendon by hitting my kneecap....?

If it doesn't start feeling better in another day or two, I'm gonna have it checked out. I can't work out with it like this and that's no good!!

Original Post by jmd22:

If it doesn't start feeling better in another day or two, I'm gonna have it checked out. I can't work out with it like this and that's no good!!

 ^That's your best bet... :)

I would have it checked out right away! Knees are precious- youve got to preserve them and take care of them lovingly. I too had knee surgery several years ago and my knees have never been the same. I am careful not to do anything high impact, which means I have to be creative when I work out.

I would suggest get them checked oout ASAP.

You could have dislocated your patella ( knee cap) Also it could have been a hyper extension. As you probably already know, knee injuries can get worse real fast so get it checked out ASAP! I didn't when I was younger and ended up on crutches for about 18months, a brace while playing soccer for about 4 years, so be careful and proactive about it! I think it's too late for R.I.C.E, so try a heating pad and some Ibuprofen for inflamation. But that is just my suggestion from personal expereince.

Thanks for the suggestions! If it's not feeling better by the morning, I will go see the dr. 

I'm mostly just pissed that I can go to the gym! 

I had pain very similar to that in high school (feeling like it was behind my knee cap).  I had an MRI done on it, and they found torn cartilage in both my knees. 

I was also a ballet dancer, and I was dancing 5 days a week for about 3 hours a day.  The dancing was creating very strong muscles on my outer thighs and glutes.  These well defined muscles were able to "fire" faster than my inner thighs, and the result was my knee caps pulling out.

I did physical therapy and learned ways to strengthen my inner thigh muscles.  Once I started college, I stopped dancing and began bike riding and running (two things my dance instructor didn't let me do).  I don't have pain any more, and I never had to have surgery.  I'm able to run half-marathons, and I'm working towards a full marathon next year.   

I'm not a doctor, but it sure sounds familiar. I tore my medial meniscus cartilage last July and had surgery on it to repair it. It took until about March for my knee to finally feel up to exercise on a daily basis.

But the key thing for me was it caused a sharp pain to begin with and then a constant nagging pain in the back of my knee. I had the hardest time when my leg was extended or straight. Hurt like hell.

Your injury sounds very close to mine.

See this: http://arthroscopy.com/sp05005.htm