Just been reading a thread on the bike forum and I'm a little worried. I took a battering flying over the handlebars on Saturday and have a bruise on my right thigh. Nothing significant to look at, feels like a graze and is painful to walk. Just below the bruise is a swelling (110mm length x 55mm width *)with no colour to it but feels numb. Is this a haematoma and if so, how long should I wait before going to the doctors about it, if I need to?
* changed to mm!
are those dimensions correct? I had a small haematoma on my side, just above my hip after using a tree as a brake on barry knows best. Hurt for some time but eventually went down and dissapeared. I visited the doc when i first saw it as my mind jumped straight to cancerous paranoia...
best bet is get it checked out by the doc...just to make sure.
I thought it was just a posh word for bruise
I had one(confirmed) when I went over the bars in a motor bike enduro. I caught both thighs as I sailed over the bars,the right fairing worse.
I knew it was bad at the time,but not broken.It was a long lap so I rode to the finsh.
Unfortunately,I'd travelled alone,so it was a long and painful journey back from the Beacons. I stopped for fuel in Newtown and collapsed whilst queing to pay.
Did my best to hide the injury from my wife. Eventually I went to A&E where it was diagnosed. Had ultrasound treatment to break it up and physio. When the bruising came out,I was black and blue from me nads to me toes.
Hope you have a swift recovery.
Hmm sounds like a...
Yep we're all Docs here...
Go see your GP or drop in centre/A&E.
Could be a bad bruise.
I got one in my groin once due to an unfortunate interface between me, beer two bikes and the end of a handlebar.
Took a several months to disappear fully. That was without any visits to GPs or physios though.
Out of interest, why would I go to the docs over a haematoma?
A few years ago I landed hard on my hip, had a big bruise and a hard lump that was there for ages (at least a year) until one day I checked and it wasn't there anymore.
A couple of weeks ago I went OTB and belly-flopped. This resulted in a big bruised belly and a hard lump about the size of a lipstick that I can grip and move around. I don't do it too often as it makes me feel a bit nauseous. I'm working on the assumption that it will be part of me for a while, then it'll go away.
From Wikipedia . . .
Haematomas exist as bruises (ecchymosis), but can also develop in organs.There are two kinds, an intermuscular and intramuscular haematoma. Some haematomas form into welt-like formations that are hard to the touch. Such a formation is a sac of blood that the body creates to keep internal bleeding to a minimum. In most cases the sac of blood eventually dissolves, however, in some cases they may continue to grow or show no change. If the sac of blood does not disappear, then it may need to be surgically removed.
I've had a couple of nasty bike-related ones recently - one a good few months ago when I went down hard on my knee on a failed attempt to drop in to a skate pool (I still have a small numb swelling on my knee), and the other just a couple of weeks ago when a slippery moss path ended up with a full body surf, lots of skin loss and a lump on my calf from body/bike interface. Strangely enough on both occasions after a week or so I ended up with bruising down to my ankles despite having no pain or injury there at all (I can only assume that it's the result of blood migrating from the haematoma site - I bleed fairly easily due to taking regular aspirin).
Keep an eye on it and heal real soon!
GO to the doc or physio just in case. I had one and left it for too long then one day playing rugby i had an excrusiating pain in my thigh. THe muscle ripped around the lump and now i have a large dimple (inch x inch x inch) in the middle of what should be a quadricep.
I had a freak accident nearly 2 months ago now (my left lower back decided to connect with a concrete bollard at the side of the road) which resulted in a lot of bruising and swelling.
Now that it has all gone done and cleared up there is still an area from spine to hip that feels funny to touch and when pressed or caught right stings/hurts. I went back to the docs last week and he said it was probably a haeatoma and that it would eventually go away.
Best to go to the docs to get checked but the usual diagnosis will be a prescription of MTFU. Well thats how the docs put it but in a nice way that uses such words as 'ibroprufen' and 'physio' if it doesn't go away.
for the OP -
don't wait for going to the docs. If it is a decent sized haematoma and it clots it will be a damn sight harder to get dealt with.
Even if it is a haematoma, you could be lucky and it will dissolve itself. I had a secondary haematoma after my surgery which luckily did this. I really didn't want a fifth operation in a week.
An ultrasound scan confirms any diagnosis.