Hematoma (I guess)

[OakLeaf]

Two weeks post crash, the road rash is healed, the bruising is almost gone, but I still have an big lump on the outside of my thigh. I hate it because it looks like an extra enormous saddlebag, out of proportion with the regular big one I have on the other side :eek: It's not really painful, except if I accidentally walk into something.

I'm using Traumeel homeopathic gel and drops. A bit of self-massage beyond rubbing the gel in two or three times a day. Electro-stim (the kind you can get OTC in the US, sold for muscle building :rolleyes: but it's been really effective for me in the past for reducing swelling). Avoiding running and minimizing high-impact moves in my aerobics classes.

Any suggestions for getting the swelling to go down quicker? Hot compresses? Should I go ahead and do high-impact exercise to try and shake the fluid out?

TIA, you guys are terrific!

[amymisk]

How about see a doctor first?

As an RN, Ive seen hematomas turn really nasty. Ask your doctor for advice on what works.

[Zen]

That doesn't sound right. Have a look at this (http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/677/main.html).
I agree with amy, you might should see a doctor.

[OakLeaf]

Well, my doctor's office is closed Fridays and I'm going out of town Monday morning. I left them a message and if they think I should, I'll have time to go to an urgent care center Tuesday or Wednesday.

I'm taking a rest day today anyway - it's been a long month, teaching at the gym five days a week, trying to ride two or three days, then the injury on top of that, and travel coming up.

The swelling does seem to be going down - slowly, but going down, and really I don't see a problem - no significant pain; full range of motion; no instability; minimal remaining visible ecchymosis; the swelling is plainly only in the soft tissue.

But you guys got my anxiety cranked :p so I'll do whatever my AP says. Thanks for your replies :)

[SouthernBelle]

When I had one on my arm, it took several months for the knot to completely go away. Made propping up on my left elbow a PITA.

[ChickWithBrains]

Hematomas can take weeks, sometimes months, to resolve. And in rare cases they can calcify and never go away completely. You're doing the right things, especially massage. You damaged the area, and as good as the body is at repairing itself, it's not a perfect system and not everything heals perfectly. Persistent hematomas are one example.

[jules]

the hematoma might need to be drained by your doctor. if you wait too long, the blood or whatever can get too hard. i'm not a doctor and i know i'm not using the right terminology - just going by what happened to my friend.

also her doctor told her that she could still work out as usual, which for her meant lots of running and biking.

[OakLeaf]

Thanks. It's a lot smaller and continuing to shrink slowly. I haven't been for a run since the crash, but for the last couple of weeks that's been because of other things, not pain.

[Kalidurga]

Thread resurrection!!

My question is: Is it safe to cycle with a hematoma on the inside of the thigh? I crashed this past weekend and my inner thigh apparently slammed against the saddle as I went down. It's gotten larger over the past couple of days and hurts a bit if I move that leg the wrong way or put my foot down with too much impact. As of this morning, I can see a smaller yellow/greenish bruise at the top, so it's obvious that the reddish/purple mass below it is all blood. I'm going to the dr next week to have the stitches in my elbow removed and the nurse said it should be fine to wait and have the dr look at my leg then.

In the meantime, I'd really like to get out for a gentle ride or two this weekend-- just an easy spin on a flat trail, no mashing up any hills or anything like that. What say ye knowledgeable ladies? Do you think it'll help, hurt, or not have any effect at all?

[alpinerabbit]

Sure, go for a ride -

except don't sue me if a blood clot moves and you get an embolism. But I guess it's not that large.

BTW
Last time I crashed hard on my MTB, I got a big tube of heparin gel to help dissolve the hematoma.

[Cataboo]

I went to urgent care a couple months back when I crashed my surly and had a big bump on my knee and then the bruise slid down my leg to the ankle and my entire calf was swollen. (that was like 3 weeks afterwards). I've still got a bump on my knee & it's numb around there.

Since I didn't have any pain other than the bruising, they didn't think there were any blood clots to worry about. So they just told me to elevate, wear a support stocking, and take 800 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours, I think it was.

They didn't actually do all that much but look at it and massage it a bit. I wore the support stocking for a couple of days, even while riding and the swelling/edema in my leg went away.

So I think you're fine riding - wear a support stocking or compression shorts if you're worried about fluid collection. Exercising will get a bit of blood flow to the area, which can help if you haven't knocked out drainage.

If it was your ankle or something, I'd say you could alternate hot water & ice baths to try to take the swelling out - but that's hard to do with a thigh.

[Kalidurga]

It doesn't seem to be very swollen, but it sure is vividly colorful. I posted this once over in my little tale of woe, but in case anyone wants to see it again (http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z163/KaliDurga/assorted_crap/?action=view&current=004-resize.jpg&newest=1)...

I started using Arnicare gel and pills last night and have been trying to avoid anything impactful, and I might try elevating it tonight. I was hoping someone would say that cycling would help with circulation and drainage ;)

[Cataboo]

I have a friend that swears by arnica gel, but she says you gotta put it on immediately after injury... And I usually keep cycling on as long as the bike is still capable of it (I think cycling another 15 hilly miles with my knee after crashing the surly didn't help). I have some gel that's arnica and ibuprofen that I use on stuff like that.

But I don't think you'll do any damage - just go easy and stop if it hurts.

[Biciclista]

the last time my DH fell, he got a bone bruise on his knee. the colors slowly fell down his leg and finally hit his foot where he has old scarring from a burn he suffered as a child. as the old blood hit that scarring, the scar area became very tender to the touch! he was pretty freaked out but a Dr said it was normal.

[Kalidurga]

And I usually keep cycling on as long as the bike is still capable of it (I think cycling another 15 hilly miles with my knee after crashing the surly didn't help). I have some gel that's arnica and ibuprofen that I use on stuff like that.

Yeah, I rode a little over 9 miles to get back to the car and it didn't bother me at the time. Where'd you get arnica with ibuprofen?

[Cataboo]

It was at REI one time.

It didn't bug me too much to ride on it, I just noticed if I stopped cycling my knee would get stiff... so I just didn't stop

[Su-zq]

I took a minor spill a little over a week ago and landed on my right side. I thought I was fine, other than a little road rash, and continued cycling. At the end of the ride, I knew something wasn't quite right. By the time I got home, I had a very large swelling, bigger than my spreadout hand, on the outside of my thigh, slightly toward the back. It is right where I had a bit of a "saddle bag." The bottom of the swelling is discolored with lots of purple, red, and green.

I saw the dermatologist for another reason on Monday and asked him what to do about the hematoma. He told me, "time," and said I should take off the ace bandage I had been wearing for support. The swelling got a little bigger after he saw it, and it doesn't seem to be resolving. It is soft, sort of like an underinflated balloon.

My leg looks really ugly, but it isn't painful unless I sit the wrong way or move exactly wrong or brush up against something. When that happens, the pain is intense.

Should I see a sports medicine doctor after Labor Day if things aren't better. or maybe my primary care doctor would be an OK choice?

Maybe I am just being a big baby about it all........ Can anyone tell me of experiences with large hematomas and resolving them?

I am planning on doing a 60-mile charity ride tomorrow, so clearly I am not physically suffering that much. I am definitley looking for tips and reassurances.

[Eden]

I bruise and swell pretty easily and I've had big hematomas on my hip/thigh a few times. Compression and alternating heat/ice *as often as possible* in the first few days help a whole lot. It can be hard to keep an ace bandage on your thigh, but it really does help. The swelling usually goes way down in a few days, but it generally takes much longer before I don't feel anything at all where the bruise was.

[Kiwi Stoker]

I got a really strange bruise this weekend on the tandem. DH and I did 90km with a very fast 6km sprint halfway (averging 54km/hr during the sprint :eek:)

Anyway I came home and noticed on the outer side of my thigh a whole heap of little pin prink red marks grouped together in a large patch.

It seems from googling this I have somehow over-extended my muscles during this sprint and causing mini bruising/ bursting of capillaries on the skin's surface- strange!

I too would say keep on icing and rubbing in arnica on a hematoma. And see a doctor. I think you can use ultrasound or similar to break hematomas up.

[Selkie]

I got a really strange bruise this weekend on the tandem. DH and I did 90km with a very fast 6km sprint halfway (averging 54km/hr during the sprint :eek:)

Anyway I came home and noticed on the outer side of my thigh a whole heap of little pin prink red marks grouped together in a large patch.

It seems from googling this I have somehow over-extended my muscles during this sprint and causing mini bruising/ bursting of capillaries on the skin's surface- strange!

.

This happens to me, too. I bruise very easily.

As for the hematoma, arnica gel works wonders.

[Aggie_Ama]

If someone didn't answer... I found arnica gel in the natural foods/ homeopathic area of one of the local grocery stores. It didn't do anything for pain on a fairly large bruise I got mountain biking but gentle massage with arnica 2-3x daily does seem to have sped up the healing. I also was able to ice it immediately, then you alternate heat. Supposedly gentle massage can encourage the lymphatic system to start dispersing the blood.I have been doing that because what can it hurt?

DH rode with a pretty nasty hematoma, the doctors were concerned about his because he takes a medicine that weakens his immune system. I seem to think he was on antibiotics as a mostly precautionary measure. Took a couple months to go away for him.

[Su-zq]

I did finally see a sports medicine doctor at the end of last week. What he has me doing is taking 500 mg of naproxen twice a day for 10 days. That is supposed to prevent the hematoma from ossifying. If it does ossify, he said that all that could be done would to be to surgically remove the hard lump, something I definitely want to avoid. I am supposed to check back with him at the end of the month. If the hematoma hasn't gone done a lot by then, he will consider treating it with ultrasound to break it up. He would not try removing any blood with a needle or giving an injection to speed up the absorption; he doesn't feel either approach does much good.

The hematoma's colors are changing but I don't think the size has diminished at all.

The doctor also told me it was OK to ride. He did suggest I hit the sports store and see if I could find a protective pad, maybe in the football section, that I could strap over my shorts. I haven't gone shopping yet and probably won't. I doubt I could get the pad to stay on over something as slippery as cycling shorts and I know I couldn't fit a pad under the shorts. My approach is likely to be to try my hardest to stay upright on the bike!