"Not certain that physiotherapy is right for me"

I am beginning to feel sidelined.

A doctor examined my painful hot and swollen knee in August (standing back from me to inspect it, but without touching it) and he suggested that I send a self-referral form to Derriford Hospital, which I did.

Derriford have now passed me to The Cumberland Centre for physiotherapy without seeing me, and that appointment is not until 4th November 2019.

I feel that my knee is probably badly damaged inside.

I have a great deal of pain and swelling through not just the knee, but my whole leg, right down through the shinbone, knee, ankle and even my foot. I am in my mid-seventies, live alone and have to keep pushing myself to get to shops etc - but I am limping more and more badly and steps and stairs are becoming almost impossible for me.

I use lifts whenever I can.

I very much fear that the proposed physiotherapy session at The Cumberland Centre on 4th November might be even more damaging, and before it happens I want to know whether there is some less intrusive way of finding out what is happening inside my knee?

I had a fall on my staircase some 18 months ago and I worry that maybe my kneecap is displaced and ligaments torn at the back of the knee. It is obviously being made worse by my need to constantly get about to shop etc for myself.