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I am a 42-year-old woman, who is about 60 to 80 pounds overweight. I had a blood clot on my left leg and after two hospital stays, six months of Coumadin and continuous heat packs and more than 30 minutes of daily walking, it finally went away. Unfortunately, I developed a Baker's cyst on the inside right leg behind the knee. I know this was from walking more than 30 minutes per day after pretty much never exercising. The blood clot leg is great, but I am almost crippled now w/the right leg cyst. I literally can't walk sometimes. I have no health insurance and can't see a doctor now. My vascular doctor said it is not from walking, but we ruled out that it can't be from anything else such as: previously rigorous exercise, hiking, biking, laying down rug or flooring, etc...So much for exercise! Now I can't do anything. I do make it into the pool but I still have pain.

I am a 60-year-old woman who is fairly active. I have neuropathy. A few weeks ago, my daughters noted that my left leg from the knee down to the foot was swollen. No pain, but it was obviously swollen. I went to the ER (it was late and I was out of state). They treated me for phlebitis because they were unable to do an ultrasound that night. The next day, I had the ultrasound and was diagnosed with a Baker's cyst. I haven't done anything because of the combination of knee surgery a few years back and neuropathy, pain was already there. My only problem is when I sit for a while and stand, I have acute pain in my ankle and foot.

A few weeks ago, I sprained my left knee pretty bad mowing a hilly lawn. The next day my knee started hurting, but there was no noticeable swelling. I thought it was a pulled muscle that would go away on its own, so I didn't go to a doctor. I limped around for two weeks with somewhat bearable pain, with it sometimes going down my calf and ankle. I thought maybe my shoes were wearing out and that put me out of alignment and caused the additional leg pain. I changed shoes but it didn't help. Then two days ago, I was walking across the parking lot at work when I almost fell to the ground because the sharp pain in that knee was so bad. It was as if someone took a dagger and stabbed the back of my knee. I had to be helped back into work and couldn't stand on that leg at all. I was taken to the doctor and she told me I had a Baker's cyst. I had never heard of a Baker's cyst. For the time being, she told me to keep it elevated and warm and use ibuprofin for the pain. I'm scheduled to see a physical therapist next week to evaluate my knee. Then they'll determine what the next best step will be. I'm using crutches now. I can't put any weight on that leg at all. My doctor told me the cyst may go down on its own. It's really not noticeable at all at this point.

I am nine weeks post ACL reconstruction. The surgery went great, and I am in rehab. The problem I am having is increased pain and pressure in the back of my knee from a large Baker's cyst seen on my MRI. I try to ignore it, but when I am at rehab, I have so much discomfort that I stop doing the exercises that I am suppose to do. I have addressed this issue with my doctor, but he will only aspirate the cyst not remove it. It interferes with my activities of daily living. When my doctor does aspirate it, I have no pain with extending or flexing, and I do get relief, even if it's only for a short while. The cyst is getting bigger, and now I am having pain in my calf muscle.

I'm a 39-year-old active woman and when my right foot and toes started swelling up, I thought I had unknowingly broken a toe. The swollen foot did not hurt, but was aching almost like a sore muscle from exercising after a long day. The only injury I had on my right side was a broken tibia/shinbone at age 10. My doctor suspected a thrombosis and sent me to have an ultrasound where they discovered a Baker cyst of 3 centimeters in size. I have no problems; I just can't cross my legs when sitting down as that feels very uncomfortable. I still go running at least three times a week.

Diagnosed with a Baker's cyst beginning around age 35. Now 55, with no associated pain, just a soft movable mass at the back of the knee. My orthopedist told me at age 25, after cracking the inside surface of my kneecap, that I'd get arthritis in that knee someday. I'm about to take a 2 week backpacking trip, so I think I'll bring ibuprofen in case inflammation occurs under the unaccustomed weight.