Knee injury recovery time

handful

After a rather foolish and comedy "clipless pedal moment" (another story) I have a very painful knee. The graze I can live with but in the process of falling whilst clipped in I managed to wrench my knee quite badly. I didn't realise how badly at the ime so foolishly didn't start RICE until after work the next day by which time my knee was quite swollen and very painful after even short periods of sitting. It does loosen up a bit after walking for a few steps and I regain about 30-45% of my knee's normal movement.

After 20 minutes of cold compressing it does bring the swelling down a bit but my questions are

1) Should I wait until I have no pain and a full range of movement before cycling again or is it ok / beneficial to maybe do a gentle spin on a turbo once I have sufficient movement to complete a revolution without pain?

2) What kind of lay-off can I expect to have to take to recover from this type of injury, I appreciate the knee is a complicated joint and it will depend on the severity of the strain/tear and which tendons/ligaments are damaged but personal experiences with the kind of symptoms I describe would be really useful.

3) Should I go to my GP and get referred for physio or just continue with RICE as much as possible and only go if I don't see an improvement for say a couple of weeks?

I'm gutted by this injury, was really enjoying my cycling in this fantastic weather and I can't bear the thought of a 6 week+ lay off.

Wooliferkins

No3 Get some anti inflammatorys and a physioterrorism programme. Don't want to proper bugger it

handful

Thanks Wooli, I'm just waiting for 8.30 to join the masses trying to get an appointment, it's been years since I went to the docs thankfully. Still very sore by the way although I think the swelling has reduced slightly.

handful

Well,back from docs and news not too bad, no muscle damage, a bit of fluid and some ligament stretch but no obvious tearing or ruptures. Anti inflammarorys prescribed and first one taken so hopefully a few days off the bike should sort it out.