thigh contusion

hi all, im a 25 year old male who regularly plays football (soccer).

2 weeks ago i got kneed in the middle front of my thigh. It was unbelievably painful for a few minutes, but i played on in discomfort for the rest of the game (60 minutes).

That evening, and for 2 days, i could hardly walk, was in a hell of alot of pain. my thigh was minorly swollen, and there was no bruising (still isnt 2 weeks later), but i was in a lot of pain. I went to see my osteopath after 72 hrs, who massaged me, which was very painful, but eased it a bit afterwards. I didnt put ice on the injury like i know i should have done.

It took me 72 hrs to be able to walk without limping, but i still cant kneel down, or sit at home with my legs crossed, or my knees pulled up to my chest, as my thigh still feels really tight. I tried to do some light training a couple of days ago, and could jog ok, but as soon as the sprinting/pasing started, i couldnt really do it as it was uncomfortable. I ended up sitting out as i stretched for the ball and it hurt.

Should it still be like this 2 weeks after? Should i just hope it disappears?

thanks in advance

andre

Hi Andrek

Yes depending on the extent of the injury you could be having slowly resolving problems for a number a few weeks. It sounds to me that you are rushing things and not really managing it properly. A few things for future reference:

1. Yes you should have iced it, elevated it and most importantly got some compression on it in order to stop excessive bleeding. And you shouldn't have just played on!
2. You don't know what you have done and neither do I and you should have had it properly examined. If you can hardly walk on it afterwards for a few days then you have a significant injury.
3. An injury like that should be assessed and graded by a physio or sports med doc and you can then be advised how to best rehabilitate it. Sometimes it is necessary also to have a fracture ruled out although that would be unlikely in this case as the femur is such a strong bone. Likewise sometimes you can significantly rupture the muscle and this is a serious issue.
4. heavy duty massage when there is a significant contusion can be counter productive, re-traumatise the area and just make matters worse. You need to know what you have done before proceeding with a treatment like that.

As you are back on your feet and managing to jog on it a bit probably things are actually going ok but that is more to do with good luck than good management on your behalf. Taking good care of your body is nothing to do with being a wimp - it is about ensuring you have a fully functioning body to do what you want in the future.

So what to do from here? I think it would be worth getting it assessed by a physio and getting a game plan together for how to optimise recovery. It doesn't mean you have to go for lots of visits - just find out what you most likely have done and how to proceed. In the mean time don't do anything that aggravates it but it sounds like controlled jogging etc may be good. You may also benefit from doing some controlled strengthening of the thigh muscle (proably the quads eh) and getting some advice about how to gently but effectively improve extensibility of the muscle

If it's a contusion you should also look at stretching it now it has been 2 weeks I'm sure your well ready to properly stretch the quads.
One thing that doesn't fit is you pulling your knees up into your chest... thats not really stretching the quads or putting them on strain... though this depends how your doing it perhaps... Can you tell us more about that?

cheers,
pud

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pudding_bowl

If it's a contusion you should also look at stretching it now it has been 2 weeks I'm sure your well ready to properly stretch the quads.
One thing that doesn't fit is you pulling your knees up into your chest... thats not really stretching the quads or putting them on strain... though this depends how your doing it perhaps... Can you tell us more about that?

cheers,
pud

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sat like in this photo

i can jog fine, and walk upstairs ok now, i barely feel it. it only feels very tight if im sat on the sofa like above, or if i try to kneel down at work (im a weldor)


thanks for the replys

andre