Bruising?

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 10:04 AM

A week and three days ago, I was squatting really heavy. The following Sunday I got a real bad pain in my left quad, like a bad cramp. The following days it became worse. It started to get better but now I have this insane bruising on my inner left quad, whole knee is bruised and some of my calf. possible tear? as i said it has become better but really bad bruising.
calf.

**jseek** · 01-20-2013, 11:37 AM

Yes. Sounds like you tore something...muscle or tendon.
Rice-rest ice compression (wrap)... And elevation means legs up watching games this weekend.
Ice on really cold 20 min, off for around 45-60 min then repeat until swelling down.
What happens next?
1) if major tear with defect or hole in area where muscle / tendon should be...getting it reattached ASAP is best cause you are already Healing and it gets harder and harder to reattach the muscle the longer you wait. Rectus femoris can be hard to diagnose with swelling president, etc... If you can feel a defect, and the leg is weak in a particular direction, and painful...consider surgical consult...as it needs prompt care (possibly MRI to help diagnose but that's dr call)
2) if it's not weak, if it doesn't really hurt at rest or with movement, if no obvious defect...and it feels like you could work out (I'm only stating that you could ability wise...I'm not recommending it)... Then it's your call as to dr consult...many weird bruising can occur on minor things and you may luck out and not need attention...but if you didn't the time to reattach things is ticking and often not possible after ??2 weeks or so....but if you rice like crazy and control the swelling, it will help you finding a defect and that will make your decision easier.
Rest duration? Till u figure out what happened, complete rest for 1-4 days, then active rest...walk /cycle...then??? You will see what you have after that and I'm sure you will b posting your recovery for us so we can follow and help out!!
Good luck!

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 12:05 PM

I will be posting recovery. I have been alternating hot and cold swelling is not to bad. So far there don't seem to be any abnormalities between my two quads. I have been paying careful attention.
Thank you for the advice. It is greatly appreciated. Here are some pics!

**jseek** · 01-20-2013, 12:40 PM

Thanks for pictures. Looks more like a good groin/adductor pull compared to anything else. Lots of space there for blood to go and look worse than it may be Likelihood of a great recovery just went up!
Ace wrap alternating the thigh mid leg to groin, and knee to mid thigh...may help.
Any small area tenderness or is the whole thing just grumpy...?
If quads and hamstrings are pain free should be able to spin an easy bike ride without a problem. Slow and easy 10-15...monitor results and progress as able...

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 12:46 PM

Small area tenderness, pain is really getting better everyday so is range of motion. At first could barely lift my leg to put my pants on. I am pretty comfortable now. I am able to walk and sleep with very little discomfort. Once again thanks.

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 12:53 PM

The only reason I thought it was my quad was when it first happend my quad muscle was like a rock. I still have some minor discomfort in top of quad but no bruising. I have been taking it easy no lower body but still going to gym.

**jseek** · 01-20-2013, 01:10 PM

Point area tenderness is where??

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 01:12 PM

A little tender where bruising is, inner thigh and outer part of knee is a little tender.

**lovbyts** · 01-20-2013, 09:17 PM

Next time go with ice only.
Here are mine pictures taken about 24 hrs apart.

**MuscleInk** · 01-20-2013, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by lovbyts

Next time go with ice only.
Here are mine pictures taken about 24 hrs apart.

Damn Lovbyts! Tell the Thai girls to take it easy on you. Looks pretty nasty. My grade 2 rupture of my gastrocnemius in June nearly compartmentalized. Was not good! Thankfully no fasciotomy required.

**cgozz** · 01-20-2013, 10:23 PM

All I have been doing is icing. The bruising has definitely has become darker and more pronounced.

**jseek** · 01-20-2013, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by lovbyts

Next time go with ice only.
Here are mine pictures taken about 24 hrs apart.

Did you isolate what you tore?
Oh ya, sexy ink you got there.... Nice legs!

**jseek** · 01-20-2013, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by MuscleInk

Damn Lovbyts! Tell the Thai girls to take it easy on you. Looks pretty nasty. My grade 2 rupture of my gastrocnemius in June nearly compartmentalized. Was not good! Thankfully no fasciotomy required.

Yes those sexy fasciotomy's suck! How'd you tear it?

**lovbyts** · 01-20-2013, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by jseek

Did you isolate what you tore?
Oh ya, sexy ink you got there.... Nice legs!

No tear. I hit it HARD on the handle bar of my jet ski playing in some nice waves and it nosed into one and just stopped dead. My leg slammed into the handle pole where you see the small bruise. I knew it was going to get bad so I started taking pictures as soon as I got back to my truck and every couple of hours to see the progression. It would have been worse if I had not iced it right away. It was interesting how it just worked it's way down my leg into the ankle eventually.

**MuscleInk** · 01-20-2013, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by jseek

Yes those sexy fasciotomy's suck! How'd you tear it?

Left my common sense at home. Jumped in to standing leg raises at 500lbs without a proper warm up. Third rep on the first set I felt the "pop" and knew immediately what happened. Foolishly finished working out (switched to upper body), went home, elevated, iced, treated symptoms ad waited. By forth day swelling was worse, paresthesia was beginning, pallor skin, pulse at lower tibia was barely palpable and pain was intensifying.

Very painful lesson learned!

**lovbyts** · 01-21-2013, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by MuscleInk

Left my common sense at home. Jumped in to standing leg raises at 500lbs without a proper warm up. Third rep on the first set I felt the "pop" and knew immediately what happened. Foolishly finished working out (switched to upper body), went home, elevated, iced, treated symptoms ad waited. By forth day swelling was worse, paresthesia was beginning, pallor skin, pulse at lower tibia was barely palpable and pain was intensifying.

Very painful lesson learned!

What was the healing process? How long? Any problems with muscle knotting?

**jseek** · 01-21-2013, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by MuscleInk

Left my common sense at home. Jumped in to standing leg raises at 500lbs without a proper warm up. Third rep on the first set I felt the "pop" and knew immediately what happened. Foolishly finished working out (switched to upper body), went home, elevated, iced, treated symptoms ad waited. By forth day swelling was worse, paresthesia was beginning, pallor skin, pulse at lower tibia was barely palpable and pain was intensifying.

Very painful lesson learned!

Yep. Glad Achilles stayed intact. Any defect remaining or it reattached itself in a normal looking pretty way?

**cgozz** · 01-22-2013, 10:19 AM

Leg seems to be healing at a rapid rate. Feeling a lot better. I have been doing cardio on elliptical machine 30-45 min. My leg seems not as tight after cardio,feels good.

**lovbyts** · 01-23-2013, 09:31 AM

Good to hear and yes typically that type of thing looks a lot worse than what it is because the blood likes to travel down the leg.

**cgozz** · 01-27-2013, 08:51 AM

My leg is looking so much better. Bruising for the most part is turned to a light color. Still have some bruising further down were blood was pulled by gravity. Went to doc and he said it was worse than it looked. He said it was due to serve trauma, he said sees this type of injury in a lot of sprinters. He gavel clean bill of health!
G2G.