Thigh injury

i need some advice please (preferably from a physio but other people's will be appreciated)

I play 11 a side football and in my last game the opposite players knee went in to the front of my thigh (very powerfully). I felt the pain immediately but i carried on playing for the last 20 mins (i was still running around 50% of the time but with a lot of pain). I've done some research on the net and know that it could be a grade 1, 2 or 3. However i'm finding it difficult to diagnose what grade my injury is (no time to go to the GP and i'm sure they'll just say rest it).

Other useful info is that it's my fifth day since the injury and i can walk around but i can still feel the pain (like a cut/tear in my thigh), no real bruising or swelling. However if i step on it firmly its quite painful. I have a bandage around it and this seems to help. Also painful when i bend it.

Can anyone tell me what grade i have based on the info i have given? And the best way to recover?:(

Hey Yaz,

From the mechanism of injury you most likely have a quadricep contusion.
You should be visiting a physiotherapist - because without seeing the area and taking further information we cannot be sure what has happened. Pain in the anterior thigh can mean alot of things, here is a small list: quad muscle strain; stress # of femur; sartorius or gracilis strains; or some form of referred pain. I'm not saying you have any of those ones (though a muscle strain is often hard to differentiate from a contusion) - certainly your mechanism of injury and your current level of function would indicate it is just a contusion, but without examination we cannot know. So I stress that you should visit a physio for specific advice.

With a quad contusion it is important to assess the severity and the exact muscle involved as this will allow us to determine prognosis. Blood from the lower third of the thigh may track down to the knee joint and irritate the patellofemoral joint. Also after a moderate to severe contusion there is a chance of rebleed in the first 7 to 10 days, therefore rehab must be undertaken with care.

The stages of thigh contusion treatment (From Brukner and Kahn - Clinical Sports Medicine): 1. control of hemorrhage; 2. restoration of Pain free ROM; 3. functional rehabilitation; 4. Gradual return to activity.

So, Hopefully something in there is helpful, over the internet and without seeing the area I can't give you specific treatment options. My suggestion is no sport until you can see a physio. But it's your body and you are the best person to judge its progress... you appear to be progressing well at present, if you regain all your ROM and strength and are pain free in another week without seeing anyone then your doing well and I suspect you'll just return to sport. Good luck with it.

Have a good one