StanP

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know something about use of MRI immediately after a rather bad accident where a knee was quite injured.

Yesterday (Tues. 27 May) a car collided into my left side and the left side of my dear, classic, steel-tubed, quite old, in-tip-top-shape ('til the accident yesterday) sturdy touring bicycle. I had the right of way-- the 18 y. o. driver got a ticket from the police for failure to yield when I had right of way on a designated bicycle path which was crossed by a driveway to the parking lot of a business and of a public park. The collision threw me onto the car hood and then I spilled off the hood onto the ground. My legs got beat up and two fingers in the left hand were sprained (and are very swollen and discolored now). An ambulance took me to the hospital where the only things done were cleaning and dressing the bleeding leg areas, an X ray taken of my left hand, and an X ray taken of each leg. [All the X rays were negative: no broken bones.] But I'm worried about my left knee which must have been badly concussed and wrenched and twisted I suppose. Since, due to the accident yesterday, the left knee is very unstable now (I use crutches and/or rely on an Ace bandage wrap). I'm worried about serious internal damage such as tears to the important tissues that make a knee stable and strong. Is an MRI - of a damaged knee - best to have *very soon* after an accident or is it not so important if some time passes after the accident? Bicycling is very important to me and I don't want to have some disability which would prevent bicycling in the near future.

Thanks