I suffered knee injuries frequently in the service.
Here's what worked for me:
Ice 20 minutes 4x daily for the swelling.
Gentle walking or swimming if you can so it doesn't stiffen up.
Elevate your leg with that pillow for swelling.
Try diclofenac gel, i found it worked better than advil.
You can try compression sleeves but I hated them.
Hospitals are $$$ expensive gamble but you need your knee - so if you see a Doctor be direct and specific with eight core things:
1. Pain on a scale of 1 to 10
2. Specific location of pain
3. Estimate how long it's been hurting
4. What are you doing when it hurts
5. Tell them the pills you tried that don't work
6. Tell them if ice or heat helps (or not)
7. You can't rest, or you can't sleep, or you can't get up, etc..
8. Tell them history of your injury (new? recurring? etc..)
Important : Write down when it hurts most, what helps, how it affects daily life, etc.. like a diary.
Doctors love specificity and data (diary). Don't be vague "it just hurts" etc.. not helpful
Good luck
