Hit 40 years old and my knee gave out on a simple ladder step

I was just getting down from a 3 foot step ladder last Tuesday, nothing crazy, and my left knee just buckled. Had to grab the railing and stand still for a solid minute waiting for the pain to fade. Never had knee problems before, not even in high school sports. Made me realize I'm not 25 anymore and that's a weird thing to accept all at once. Has anyone else hit a random age milestone that snuck up on you physically like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.joel6d ago

I tweaked my back picking up a sock once and spent three days on the couch lol.

hugoj126d ago

That thing where you say you had to "stand still for a solid minute" is what gets me. Did you actually feel something pop or give way inside your knee or did it just fold out of nowhere with no warning? Because I've had that happen in my shoulder and it turned out to be a torn labrum that I'd been ignoring for years. The quiet pop with zero pain until later is way different than the sudden buckle with immediate burning. Knowing which one happened to you changes whether you can just ice it and move on or if you need to get an MRI.

the_elliot6d ago

Whoa, I don't know man, that sounds pretty serious but I’m always skeptical when someone jumps to "my knee gave out" without knowing what actually went wrong. I mean, you probably just stepped weird and your knee was like "nope" for a second. I've had that happen before where I'd twist wrong getting out of my truck and hobble for like 10 minutes, then it's fine the next day. Unless you heard a real pop or it's still swollen or bruised, I wouldn't freak out and get an MRI just yet. The body does weird random things when you get older, but it doesn't mean everything is broken.