Slip-and-fall accidents can also cause serious injuries to the knee. If you sustained severe knee injuries from falling on concrete, please know that you can call one of our Eason & Tambornini construction accident lawyers anytime for help in seeking compensation. Our lawyers can explain to you some of the common knee injuries from falling, why you developed knee pain after a fall on concrete, what a contusion of the knee is, and how you treat a bruised knee. We regularly handle traumatic injury cases, so if you have any questions about slip-and-fall accidents, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our Eason & Tambornini lawyers to arrange a meeting.
Falling and landing on your knee can cause several knee injuries. Still, some of the most common ones include fractures of the patella, dislocation of the patella, knee sprains, meniscal tears, and injury to the anterior cruciate ligament.
Landing hard on your knee can easily fracture and dislocate the patella. It can also damage the ligaments that connect the patella to the bone and result in knee ligament sprains or tears. Meniscal tears are caused by sudden knee twisting, resulting in medial or lateral meniscus tears.
Knee injuries are not only excruciating, but they can also be very limiting. They affect all aspects of your life – personal, social, and even professional – and prevent you from enjoying your day-to-day activities. Knee injuries can also lead to significant income loss if you stay at home because of limitations.
Any injury or damage to the knee structures, including the nerve endings, causes knee pain. Because there is tissue damage, there will also be inflammation.
Inflammation causes fluid to build up around the injured site and dilate the blood vessels, accounting for the swelling, warmth, and redness associated with tissue damage. In addition, the immune cells release pain-producing chemicals, which add to the pain sensation.
Knee pain and swelling typically resolve independently, especially if the injury is mild. But if the pain and swelling persist, you should see your primary care physician immediately. A more severe injury to your knee could need to be addressed as soon as possible.
A knee contusion is simply a bruised knee resulting from blunt trauma to the area. A black-purplish discoloration of the skin is caused by damaged small blood vessels leaking blood into the surrounding tissues. The discoloration or bruising usually appears within 24 hours of the knee injury and goes away after a few days to even more than a month.
In addition to bruising, though, symptoms of knee contusion also include painful knee and pain upon palpation of the injured site. There may also be some swelling that can limit your knee’s range of motion and affect your gait.
The recovery period of knee contusion depends on the severity of your knee injury. More severe injuries will take longer to heal.
If pain and swelling accompany your bruised knee, you can take some pain and anti-inflammatory meds for these symptoms.
You can also treat your bruised knee with a cold compress. This will promote vasoconstriction and reduce the amount of blood leaking from the damaged blood vessels. The cold can also numb the painful area and help control pain.
So, apply the cold compress over the area for 20 minutes, and then give the site some rest. This way, you prevent ice burn from the ice packs. You can do the cold compress therapy every three to four hours.
After three days on the cold compress, you can then switch to a warm compress. This will promote vasodilation of the blood vessels, and the influx of blood will wash away cell debris and deliver nutrients to the healing tissues.
If the injuries are severe, though, surgery may be required.
What can you do?
Knee injuries sustained from slip-and-fall accidents can be very painful, especially if the patella and the structures within the knee are affected. If someone’s carelessness caused your knee injuries, know that we can help you seek compensation not only for your injuries but also for any loss of income. We can also explain some of the knee injuries caused by slip-and-fall accidents, why you have knee pain and contusion, and treatment methods for knee bruising.
If you have more questions about traumatic injuries caused by slip-and-fall accidents like knee injuries from falling on concrete, please do not hesitate to visit our office or arrange an appointment with one of our Sacramento construction accident attorneys.
