I bruised my thigh and the hurt is spreading. What now?
March 25, 2013 7:33 AM   Subscribe

Nine days ago while working I *ran* into a countertop and bruised the top my right thigh - badly. At first the injury seemed to progress normally, getting better every day, but now not only is the bruise still there, but my knee hurts too. What now?

For the past week I've been icing and resting the leg, but I haven't taken any time off work really so I've still been using it a lot.

This weekend, I bartended for 8 hours and then walked home a mile and by that time I was in agony. The knee had been fine until then. Yesterday the pain was very bad, not so much when I bent at the knee, but when I raise my leg using the upper leg muscles.

So: I'm taking the day off today finally: what can I do to make it better?
posted by hafehd to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)
 
By hook or by crook, see a doctor.
posted by infinitewindow at 7:36 AM on March 25, 2013 [6 favorites]


It's possible the knee pain is not related to the bruised thigh. You did stand for 8 hours and then walked a mile. You might have simply torn or sprained something.

Agreed with infinitewindow: Go to a doctor. If you don't have a regular physician, then visit an urgent care clinic.
posted by royalsong at 7:40 AM on March 25, 2013


I am not a doctor, or your doctor. This is not necessarily related, but it's also not a good sign for your healing. You might have more than just the garden-variety internal bleeding that a bruise indicates. No one here can tell for certain. You need to see a doctor.
posted by RainyJay at 7:41 AM on March 25, 2013


Go to a doctor! As a personal anecdote, I took a nasty fall and hurt myself similarly, but decided not to go to the doctor. It now appears to be the case that the injury caused my osteoarthitis. Unilkely to be the case for you, but I stress, get it checked out.
posted by Sakura3210 at 7:50 AM on March 25, 2013


When you keep using an injured muscle or joint, your body may compensate for the injury by overworking other muscles or joints, leading to a secondary injury. If you're unknowingly putting a lot more strain on your knee as a result of your hurt thigh, you could be doing serious damage to it. You should see a doctor/sports injury professional before things get worse, and bear in mind that they may want you to stay off your feet for quite a while.

I'm not a doctor and don't have any special knowledge here - I just know about this phenomenon secondhand from my massage therapist sister.
posted by pocams at 8:08 AM on March 25, 2013


Go to a doctor, right away. You may have a blood clot, which is intensely painful and dangerous.
posted by nanook at 8:11 AM on March 25, 2013 [2 favorites]


Seconding pocams. I've had similar things happen -- especially when running on a poorly-healed ankle post-sprain, thus injuring my other knee by walking funny. But definitely see the doctor -- I was seeing a PT at the time, and they could look at it and give me strengthening exercises.
posted by DoubleLune at 8:19 AM on March 25, 2013


Yes, please see a doctor. I have a permanent dent in the middle of my left thigh from running full-tilt into a metal bed and if I had seen a doctor at the time, I might not have later torn the muscle in the same spot.
posted by corey flood at 9:26 AM on March 25, 2013


This is such a vague description that I can go on Wikipedia and find you any number of terrifying things that present sort of like this. For example. Please make an appointment with your primary care physician or an urgent care center. (Don't go to the emergency room because a major city you'll just get triaged to the very back of the line.)
posted by d. z. wang at 4:30 PM on March 25, 2013


Agreeing with pocams -- I had an injury that caused some pain when I walked, I compensated for it by walking in a different way, and ended up messing things up to the point that I needed a whole lot of physical therapy. I highly recommend going to a doctor or clinic, especially since you work on your feet.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:46 AM on March 26, 2013


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