Hematoma (I guess)

[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 )

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 )

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!