X-rays: does it matter which side of the bone you x-ray?

AARRRGH

Hello

I'm hoping someone can help me with this.

I injured my knee snowboarding a few years ago. There is a (small, hard) lump above my knee now, it is is extremely painful if it is touched.

There is constant pain in my knee when I walk.

When I originally got the injury, I went to the hospital. The doctor suggested it was all in my imagination. I forced them to do an x-ray, but they x-rayed the wrong side of my knee (i.e. behind it rather than to the side where the injury is.) I questioned them on this at the time but they dismissed it.

Nothing showed up in the x-ray.

Is it possible the x-ray missed the injury?

My knee has deteriorated quite a lot over the past few months so I am thinking of going back to the hospital...

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Note: the injury is NOT in my imagination. I am not a crazy person.

username123

Did you see an OS (orthopediac surgeon) at the hospital?

You need a referral to an OS, you can self refer to the guy who sits in the Leinster Clinic in Maynooth and from personal experience he is a fantastic OS and a very nice person to boot.

beeno67

The fact that nothing abnormal showed up on x-ray does not exclude an injury. Seek medical advice again.

charlieroot

OP,

To the best of my knowledge (which is very limited ) there is generally a defined angle which an x-ray of part of your body is done which through experience helps a doctor/radiologist to appreciate any damage that may be present. Often, if done from a different angle things can look very different for example on an AP (anterior-posterior ie front to back) chest x-ray the heart looks much larger than on a PA (posterior-anterior ie back to front, this is the standard way of doing one). So in short what might seem like the wrong angle to you could in fact be the best angle to show the damage.

Also, its quite possible that you have a soft tissue injury - which may not show up at all on the x-ray unless there is a great deal of inflammation or thickening / scar tissue / fluid etc.

As previsouly suggested you should definitely get a second opinion. You can go through your GP and they will refer you to a specialist or contact a specialist directly such as the one mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

Hope that helps.

Vorsprung

There's 4 possibilities I can think of:

1) You haven't actually injured a bone.
2) Some injuries to bone can take upto 10 days to appear on an X-ray, so it may have been missed if you had the original Xray before it would have shown up.
3) The angle of the Xrays failed to pick up the injury (as you said yourself).
4) There was an injury visible on the Xray but it was missed - shouldn't really happen as all Xrays deemed normal shold be double checked by a radiologist.

In any and all cases, since the injury is still troubling you, you should ask your GP, an orthopaedic referral might be a good idea.

AARRRGH

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will go to my GP and get everything checked out again.

Cheers.