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Injury Advice: Upper Thigh

Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Hey guys,

About two weeks ago, I got into an accident on my DJ bike where the frame and the handlebar ended up scissoring my upper right thigh upon crashing. I couldn't walk to well for a few days but in about a weeks time, it felt decent, not great, but enough for me to take a light 30 min spin on my road bike. I had a little soreness and a lil discomfort that tends to come after an injury. Fast forward where the problem begins, shortly after this ride, about 2 days later, my leg that got scissored to start ends up swelling a bit, and a little fluid starts collecting in my knee cap area, its not bruised just swollen from fluid, I never hit my knees as I was wear knee pads upon my crash. In about a weeks time, my leg is fairly immobile, I can't bend it much maybe about 20 degrees, I get this shot of my pain in my upper thigh area almost like the muscle is locking my leg from going back any further.

I've visited an osteo, he says its either a hematoma or torn muscle, call me naive but I feel like its a bit more...

Has anyone else been in this situation, any suggestions? I've been iceing and applying heat packs as well as taking anti-inflammatory drugs. Any help will be great.

*FYI this photo shows the area where my leg hurts when bending (upper circle) and lower circle is where the fluid has collected a bit.
photo.jpg
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Sorry, yeah went to an Osteopathic doctor. Technically the injury exacerbated 4 days ago. I got an x-ray and nothing showed up, no broken bones, no signs of 'calcification' but I knew from the get go that nothing was broken, I thought with a muscle injury like this that it would deserve a MRI. Which made me a bit skeptical about the whole process with the doc...
 

yopaulie

Monkey
Jun 4, 2009
165
7
NH
A torn muscle can be a big deal. You probably just have fluid draining from the impact site. If it gets any worse I would get a 2nd opinion to be sure. Also how old are you because recovery time for almost every injury takes twice as long from say your 20's to 40's.
Good luck!
 

Freeridin'

Monkey
Oct 23, 2006
316
2
Colorado
Interesting, the symptoms you're describing happened to me about 6 weeks ago after a crash. Tons a swelling and couldn't bend my knee. However, putting weight on the leg was fine. I had xrays and saw a doctor a week after the injury and was told it was just deep muscle bruising. A month after the crash I was able to bend my knee enough to the point where I could pedal a bike (max seat extension). It was definitely more than just muscle bruising, and likely a torn something. 6 weeks later its about 90% but 50% strength wise.

Elevating my leg, warm wraps, and lots of drugs helped me out.
 
Last edited:
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Interesting, the symptoms you're describing happened to me about 6 weeks ago after a crash. Tons a swelling and couldn't bend my knee. However, putting weight on the leg was fine. I had xrays and saw a doctor a week after the injury and was told it was just deep muscle bruising. A month after the crash I was able to bend my knee enough to the point where I could pedal a bike (max seat extension). It was definitely more than just muscle bruising, and likely a torn something. 6 weeks later its about 90% but 50% strength wise.

Elevating my leg, warm wraps, and lots of drugs helped me out.
Would you advice ice? Or sticking with warm wraps? Its a little freaky, I've had a ton of injuries where I hit my knee but none where my muscle felt like it was restricting my movement, pretty scary stuff. Do you notice any long term effects? Any suggestions on rehabing?
 

Freeridin'

Monkey
Oct 23, 2006
316
2
Colorado
I am terrible at rehabbing....I get multiple subluxations on both shoulders multiple times a week. My body is a mess and I'm only 20. That being said...

I was told that icing is only productive after the first few days after an injury occurs. If it feels good then why not. I was using the thermacare heat wraps sized for lower back and the occasion hot tube when I could.

As far a rehabbing it goes...just rest it and don't push it. Last week I was in Chicago and couldn't pass up riding Ray's MTB in Milwaukee. Leg felt pretty good while riding, but the next couple of days the pain and the immobility returned.
 

ZHendo

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,661
147
PNW
I had a lot of muscle-related injuries when I was running track in high school. The best things for me were deep tissue massage and stim, where you're hooked up to a machine with little nodes that stick to your leg and stimulate muscle contractions. Deep tissue is still one of the most painful things I have ever experienced, but it sped up healing time A TON for me. It broke up scar tissue and promoted more normal healing, which meant less soreness and stiffness. The stim wasn't painful at all and felt like a light, tingly massage, but my trainer insisted that it was one of the best things you could possibly do for a muscle injury. Ice and heat were helpful for a few days, but they are a bit more basic and don't speed healing as much as these more proactive measures in my experience. Heal up!
 

theBigHeezy

Chimp
Oct 23, 2006
75
0
Salt Lake $hitty, UT
i had a hematoma in the same spot and had the exact symptoms you describe. the only difference is that my pain and mobility struck within 6 hours of the injury. I could not bend my knee past 90 degrees for over a month. it was almost 2 months before i got full range of motion back, with a little bit of PT. i am guessing what happened in your case is your little spin got the blood pumping through an area that was not fully healed. this is what caused the hematoma to worsen. a hematoma is just a blood clot, but much worse then your standard bruise. it gets very hard and takes a long time to cleanse its self out. the strain you put on it while you were injured may have started to pump more blood into the clot making it worse. the hard clot presses against your muscle because it is so large and prevents mobility and creates pain as the muscle trys to work because of the pressure from the hematoma. just message it daily to try and work out the blood clot, and slowly but surely it will go away. no worries.
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Thanks guys, much appreciated. I can already feel my leg getting better, the hematoma has gone down a little bit with intervals of ice and heat wraps. I don't have any coverage at this point, I would love the idea of electrically stimulating my leg but we'll see, hopefully this is something that will work itself out with a ton of care and PT. Again, thanks for the advice!
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Yeah, I had the same thing as you happen in pretty much the same place - just took a little time to heal, but there are no traces of it now. My experience was similar to theBigHeezy.

I think this long after the injury, heat packs / gentle massaging are the way to go. Ice is in the early stages to reduce swelling, but at this stage it's just a matter of getting all that junk out of there. No matter what you do it will just take time really, so a little patience and you'll be back to 100%.
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Yeah, I had the same thing as you happen in pretty much the same place - just took a little time to heal, but there are no traces of it now. My experience was similar to theBigHeezy.

I think this long after the injury, heat packs / gentle massaging are the way to go. Ice is in the early stages to reduce swelling, but at this stage it's just a matter of getting all that junk out of there. No matter what you do it will just take time really, so a little patience and you'll be back to 100%.
I have a little bit of fluid collected in my knee cap area, is that something that needs to be drained? Or will it go away with time?
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
Any of you guys who've had similar injuries to mine, try the acupuncture method process where they dispel accumulated blood from a hematoma? Wondering if this is a option to even consider? Anything to speed up the process.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
I'm have no professional background on this stuff, but I'd say ask your doc to be safe on the kneecap fluid. I'd suspect it will go away over time just like the main swelling.

It was a long time since I went through this so I don't remember everything I did, but I think the physio got the infrared heat machine thing onto it (I forget what it's called, they put this gel on you first), I could see acupuncture having similar results. I'd suggest talking to a physio.. like you I think I just threw anything at it to heal faster.

Good luck and heal up!
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
I'm have no professional background on this stuff, but I'd say ask your doc to be safe on the kneecap fluid. I'd suspect it will go away over time just like the main swelling.

It was a long time since I went through this so I don't remember everything I did, but I think the physio got the infrared heat machine thing onto it (I forget what it's called, they put this gel on you first), I could see acupuncture having similar results. I'd suggest talking to a physio.. like you I think I just threw anything at it to heal faster.

Good luck and heal up!
thanks for the advice, will do
 
Apr 17, 2009
63
0
Los Angeles, CA
I'm have no professional background on this stuff, but I'd say ask your doc to be safe on the kneecap fluid. I'd suspect it will go away over time just like the main swelling.

It was a long time since I went through this so I don't remember everything I did, but I think the physio got the infrared heat machine thing onto it (I forget what it's called, they put this gel on you first), I could see acupuncture having similar results. I'd suggest talking to a physio.. like you I think I just threw anything at it to heal faster.

Good luck and heal up!
Had another question for you regarding the injury. The swollen area of my thigh, although it is swollen, doesn't hurt when I touch or massage it. It feels like a very shallow bump, as if the muscle is hardened. My concern is that if it is indeed a internal bruise, shouldn't it hurt when I touch it? It's only when I try to bend my leg that I get a sharp pain in the area, which makes me think its a certain degree of a torn muscle?
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,577
19,602
Canaderp
Hey guys i got sideswiped on my bike with engine kit and drove straight into a phone poll and got hurt bad in the side of my upper left thigh it was bruised and very swollen and the swelling got very very bad went to the hospital they said w
That I have a quadracepte contusion and my leg compartmentalized so they sent me home and said my body would absorb all the blood well it's 11 days and the bruising is gone but my whole side of my thigh is the size of half of a basketball I can barely walk and the front of my upper left leg there is a tendon or muscle that goes straight down the center of my hip down the middle of my front leg that from the swelling hurts because it feels like it's going to snap so this is getting worse but our hospital sux they didn't even x-ray it but l read up on quadracepte contusion with compartment syndrome is more severe than they make it seem does anyone know what this is will it go away? I read up on this and it said I could lose my leg or die from it am I just worried or is it really bad
If you're really concerned, travel to another doctor or hospital.