Newcastle’s Ivory Coast midfielder is having the problem assessed and will learn his fate in the next 24 hours.
The worst-case scenario is that the 28-year-old will be sidelined for Toon’s final 13 games in a big blow to caretaker boss John Carver.
Tiote suffered the injury while on African Cup of Nations duty, causing him to miss his country’s penalty shoot-out success over Ghana in the final.
It caps an injury-plagued campaign for the former FC Twente midfielder.
Tiote missed the first month of the campaign with a hamstring injury, and has made just 12 appearances this season - only one since the turn of the year.
He fell out with then-manager Alan Pardew because he was injured and wouldn't play for Newcastle ... but returned to his native land to play for his country ... and that happened TWICE this season.