About 6 weeks ago I started having severe knee pain which the pain is in the BACK of my knee. I don't remember any activity that I did to cause this pain; It just started one day and has not gotten any better. It is hard for me to bend it, i.e., getting out of a vehicle. When I lay down or am sitting I have to raise my knee higher than my foot. Moreover, sometimes, about 80% both of my ankles and feet will swell up. I have tried just about every thing except go to the doctor yet. I have iced it, use warm presses, etc. It is also hard to walk up and down stairs. Most of the time, since this pain has started I have either stayed laid down or sit with one THICK pillow under my feet and one doubled up pillow supporting my knee. The pain is only in my right knee. I see my doctor in about 3-4 weeks, but I'm wondering what it could be and if there is anything else I can do to help the pain. I sometimes take one Darvacet and two ibuprofen when the pain is to bad to bear and if it is throbbing and not getting any better after takeing just ibuprofen (400 mg). In 1999 I was in a severe MVA and two discs, C4-5 and C5-6, was broken. I had surgery on C5-6 because it was cutting into my spinal cord. My nurolosist (sp?) told me that when he "got in there" C5-6 was so bad that he did not want to take a change of fixing C4-5 because my spinal cord wouldn't be able to handle it. The procedure he did was to take a new piece of bone (from the bone center) and fuse it (C5-6). So, my right side has been very weak and I have many problems with my right side anatomy. Post surgery I went through 4 years of physical therapy. It helped a little bit but not enough to do it again, which I have a feeling that my doctor is going to prescribe. I have told her in the past I will NOT go to physical therapy again. After 4 years, I HATE it! I just want it fixed - surgery if that's what it takes. I already have arthritis in parts of my back. It is in my neck (where the disc(s) were/are broken) and about in the middle of my back and in my lower back. I'm wondering if the "back of knee pain" is a form of arthitis. FYI, C4-5 was never fixed. I've been told, through MRIs, and X-rays that many of my right side problems are caused by scare tissue in my neck where the discs were broken. My nurologist wrote a long report on the surgery and post-op things to do along with problems I could and would have in the rest of my life time. I am 43 years old and just in 2004 physical problems really started to give me problems. I don't do much activity (which I hate) because of my leg - swelling of feet and ankles, "behind the knee" soreness among other problems that I have like my back. Usually, if I do physical activity I am laid up in bed the next day and sometimes the next two days. I'm getting sick of the health, physical, problems I'm having. It makes my depressed which I have fought depression for 24 years. Most of the time I can control the depression, but when I'm huring or can't do something I can get depressed and get very angry about the MVA. Even though it wasn't my fault - that probably makes it worse - that it was caused by another person, which the accident almost killed her. If she had just been paying attention and probably not be in such a hurry the MVA wouldn't have happened. Or if I had left work one or two minutes earlier or later. Or taken another route. I still hold that in me and get angry when I think about it. I use to be very active - riding, showing and training horses, beach volleyball, running, lifting weights, always doing something, mostly outside. Now I feel those activities have been taken away from me. I was even about 2 months of getting my badge to become a Police Officer. Now I don't know what to do. I am a very, very big horse lover and big animal lover. I would rather be with an animal than a person most of the time. I am on SSDI, Medicare, and Medicaid. I hate that fact that the government is supporting me. I am strong welled and I don't want the government supporting me, I want to support myself! Which I had just about everything I wanted and could do before the MVA. The MVA has turned my life around 180 degrees. So, maybe my "behind the knee problem/pain is because of the MVA back in March 1999 (it was on my birthday of all days!). Please evaluate and tell me what you, as a doctor, thinks about this pain behind my knee. Please e-mail me at jjspecialrock@yahoo.com Thank You! Pati B.