kind of a medical question

Might do xrays although they are unlikely to show anything with a knee injury, A good examination should give a clear idea of what the problem is and will likely recommend conservative treatment. If it doesnt get better with conservative treatment than may need MRI and orthopedic referral.

It probably just depends on symptoms and your doctor.

xrays maybe mine was just strained and my knee cap was shifting due to a lot of squats and lunges, I was stressing it out.

I've had serious knee problems in the past and every time was a little bit different. I've had x-rays done and then was just referred to a physical therapist where they helped me from there. Other times I've seen doctors and they wouldn't even look at me until I had an MRI or X-ray done. Almost every single time I was referred to someone else. Usually family physicians only have basic training when it comes to stuff like this.

Good luck!

What your doctor does depends on what the evaluation of your knee shows. My experience is they will ask a bunch of questions, then they will do various things to manipulate the knee and press on parts of it to see if they can isolate exactly where the pain is located. If they can do that they have an idea of where to progress. An X-ray may be called for. It will show some problems, and not show others. I had sort tissue damage in my knee, so the X-ray was to eliminate other possibilities. Depending on where you are an MRI might be called for, but sometimes through all the other stuff they can come up with a diagnosis without needing one. If you get to the MRI point, it is likely they will refer you to an orthopedist.

In my case my knee gave way, and then would not extend or bear weight any longer. I had always been able to get it straight when it happened before by the time I got to the hospital. Then they only had my description of what happened and some lingering tenderness to work with. This time I did not, and that was actually the best as it allowed them to see it and eliminate a bunch of things. I have a torn meniscus which was shaped sort of like a flap. It would occasionally flip up and then my knee would give way. It would eventually go back, but that was uncomfortable and took time. I had surgery to fix it back in '97, but have since re-injured it. Up until recently it would only happen once a year, so I decided that the rehab time for the surgery was not worth it. Recently it happened twice in about a 2-3 week stretch, if it happens again, I think I will see about getting it fixed again, although I would prefer to lose the rest of the weight I want to take off before that would happen. If it doesn't happen any time soon, I will continue to wait.

In many ways, what will happen depends on your doctor and his experience in this particular area. If he is not especially knowledgeable he will probably refer.