Is it possible for a bruise to be so bad that it needs medical attention?

[sassenach]

So last week I was running away from dh (if you are a family that horseplays, you probably get this) and I ran hard into my footboard. It felt like the worse charlie horse of my life. It was an intense searing pain a few inches above my knee. I knew I had really done it, so I put ice on it for at least an hour.

 

It has developed into the worse bruise of my life. It is about 3 inches by 6 inches, with a rock hard lump in the middle. Yesterday, I started getting these warm and cool sensations from it. It almost felt like warm water was being poured on my leg. Then last night, the muscle that runs under it kept twitching. Otherwise, my leg feels fine. The surrounding area doesn't hurt at all. No shooting pains or anything like that.

 

So is this all normal stuff for a bruise of this magnitude, or should I have it looked at?

[fairfarmhand]

MIght want to at least call the doctor's office and see what they say. I know my mother (who is nearly bedfast) can develop blood clots from bad bruises.

[LG Gone Wild]

There is bruised and then there is broken. You might want to make sure you know which one it is.

 

I've had some doozies these past years. Some of those deep ones take a long time to go away, months in fact.

[flobee76]

One of my friends had to have a bump/bruise drained. It was that bad. She hit her shin on a board. It kept swelling and swelling. It was so painful that she couldn't walk. They thought that she fractured something and took her to the dr. The dr. had to drain it out.

[fhjmom]

You can absolutely have complications from "just a bruise" that require medical attention. There is the possibility of calcification in the muscle - osteomyositis ossificans - that can cause limited range of motion and other issues. The quadriceps muscles are often the site of this condition.

 

Here's a link with more information, treatment and what to watch for:

http://www.ubsportsmed.buffalo.edu/education/quadcont.html

 

Because you have developed a hard lump, I would recommend calling the doctor.

[Matryoshka]

I don't know about a bruise that's gotten that bad (though my gut says get thee to the doctor), but next time you whack yourself, may I strongly suggest arnica, arnica, arnica.

 

I was kicked by a horse, hard, in the same place you describe - just above the knee. So hard I went into shock. My friend called 911, I went to the emergency room to have it x-rayed to make sure I didn't have a fracture of the tibia.

 

I also put arnica on it right away - took it internally, rubbed it on externally. Repeated every 15 min. for the first hour. The center of the bruise never even developed. Around the outside where it seeped later, I did get a bit more - I'd stopped putting arnica on. The middle ended up yellow like an old bruise but didn't ever get really bad. It still hurt some, I still have a small dent in my leg, but it never turned into the bruise it "should" have been.

 

When my dd was two, she got hit on the head by a 2x4 that fell on her in the garage - she immediately got a huge goose egg. Administered arnica right away and often, the next morning there wasn't even a bump to be found.

 

Arnica only works if you use it immediately, while the bruise is still forming, at least in my experience. But if you take it right away, it may prevent it getting so bad in the first place.

Edited July 16, 2010 by matroyshka

[Crimson Wife]

One of my brothers bruised his leg running cross-country in high school and it developed into a bone infection. He had to have surgery and then was on IV antibiotics for a couple of months.

 

Hope that whatever is going on with you is less serious! :)

[sassenach]

Thanks for all of the help. I'm still on the fence about whether or not to go in. It's definitely not broken, I'm not feeling any pain unless I push on it. I'm taking the wait and see approach. If it isn't any better by Monday, I will go in.

 

Flobee, that made my stomach do a full flip. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

 

Note to self, find out what arnica is and buy some!

[Laurie4b]

You can get arnica at health food stores. It's an herb.

 

Keep icing it 20 minutes every hour.

[fhjmom]

Thanks for all of the help. I'm still on the fence about whether or not to go in. It's definitely not broken, I'm not feeling any pain unless I push on it. I'm taking the wait and see approach. If it isn't any better by Monday, I will go in.

 

Flobee, that made my stomach do a full flip. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

 

Note to self, find out what arnica is and buy some!

 

How's your range of motion? I am okay with the wait and see, but be sure to keep *easy* stretching (NOT to the point of pain) to keep adhesions from forming. Ice and advil will help. Also, if there is no new swelling, gentle massage will help break it up and keep an adhesion from forming as well.

 

What Flobee's friend had sounds like anterior compartment syndrome - usually only happens to the lower leg/shin region. Yours is above the knee, right?

 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I was an athletic trainer in my pre-mommy life. I have treated *lots* of quad bruises. Take care and let us know how you are feeling on Monday!

[Guest Katia]

One of my friends had to have a bump/bruise drained. It was that bad. She hit her shin on a board. It kept swelling and swelling. It was so painful that she couldn't walk. They thought that she fractured something and took her to the dr. The dr. had to drain it out.

 

Yes. This. I tripped over a wire and landed on my hip when I was 18yo. It swelled and looked horrible. When my mom saw it, she fainted! Went to the dr. and he called it a hematoma or something like that, and drained it. Tons of blood came out, but it felt soooo much better afterward. It still took a long time for the discoloring to go away, but I'm so thankful we went to the dr and he drained it. I had no idea a bruise could be so bad.

[Carol in Cal.]

Last summer I had a mild fall that was exaserbated by my impaling myself on a cut off sapling stump. I ended up with blackened, swollen bruising from my knee to my hip on one leg. Two nurses told me not to compress that area and not to rub it, for fear of blots breaking loose and moving northward. I also had to watch for signs of infection, very carefully.

 

I would have gone to the doctor except that I was the lone chaperone at a junior high youth retreat, and didn't feel I could leave my girls unless things were more dire. I wore my one pair of loose pants all week, and I went and floated around in the chlorinated pool every day to hopefully kill any germs that might be rearing their ugly heads. It was months before it healed, and if I had not been at the camp I certainly would have gone to the doctor.