# Is there a doctor in the house? (fall and hematoma related)



## Sadlebred (Nov 19, 2002)

Yesterday, I was riding with some friends yesterday. About two miles into the ride, there is a patch of road that is very worn out. There are several "lips" in the road that are 3-4 inches high. There are also rocks and oil because of large trucks that comes through this intersection. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently several riders have fallen here. I was riding along and went to move to the right. We were stopping for the red light when I hit one of the "lips" and landed squarely on my right buttock-HARD. 

I laid there for a few minutes because is stung so badly. I knew nothing was broken. Once you've fallen so many times like I have, you just know when nothing is broken. I got back on the bike and was stiff and sore but decided to continue to ride. I've fallen much worse than this. I was fine until about mile 36 when my muscle started to get really hard. By mile 37, we got to a small hill. The muscle spasmed, seized up, and I could not ride. I got off the bike and tried to stretch, which didn't work. The ride leader and 3 of my friends stopped. Someone went to get a truck for me and my bike.

At this point, we decided to call an ambulance because I could not get up. I was laying prone--on my stomach. I was coherent, just in a lot of pain. The ambulance only took about 15 minutes to arrive. I was put in face down on the stretcher because they didn't want to aggrevate the injury by putting me on a backboard. I got 2 mg of Morphine and 12 mg of Phenagrin for the nausea and pain. It worked. The EMT said the morphine would help with the pain since it is a pain killer and smooth muscle relaxer. I wa sseen right away when we got to the ER. Xrays and other tests were negative, confirming nothing is broken and there is nothing "major" wrong with me. 

I have a large contusion and hematoma on my right buttock the size of 2 softballs. It is still really sore, and laying down it hard. The doctor said that it would probably be several weeks before it goes down and the swelling completely subsides. Ice it every few hours for 20 minutes and try to stay off of it. The doctor thinks that that riding exaserbated the contusion. The riding pumped blood into the injury, it swelled up badly and very quickly (within 5 minutes it doubled in size), and the pressure caused all of the pain. The left side of my neck is pretty sore as well.

My question for anyone is...have you ever had an injury like this? How long did it take to heal? How long until the swelling started to subside? How long til you were back on the bike? I can sit on my bike b/c I'm not putting pressure anywhere the contusion is. I am planning on taking a few days off and following up with my doctor when his office reopens on Tuesday.

The contusion/hematoma:


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## Squint (Jan 22, 2004)

It took about 6 months for it to fade away. I was back on the bike after about a week but it was several weeks before I could ride hard without being limited by pain. I ended up with a myositis ossificans there which is quite annoying. If there was anything that could've been done to prevent that, I would have pursued it aggressively.


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## JoeDaddio (Sep 3, 2005)

I had something very similar happen to me while playing rugby.

Basically, I took a knee to the shin while both of us were moving at full speed. I felt pain for a secong, looked down, didn't notice that anything major was wrong, took my minute (in rugby everyone gets a minute to assess injury without having to leave the game) and found that after a min. the pain wasn't there.

I went back into the game and finished up the last half, which had about 20 min left in it. This whole time I had not been paying attention to my leg, but after the game a teammate looked at me and asked if I was alright. I looked down and my about half way up my right shin I had a bubble about the size of a handball, and it was about the color of yours in the center.

I went to the trainer and he sent me to the medical center where they took x-rays; they thought I had a chipped bone, but everything came back negative. The Dr. told me that there wasn't really anything that could be done, that I should just ice it, and it will eventually take care of itself.

For a few days I was in really bad pain, especially right after I woke up and hadn't had a chance to get the blood moving. I would wake up and have to lay in bed for a while before I could get up. That didn't last too long, maybe a week or so. It still hurt, but not terribly, it became more of an anoyance. It still looked ugly as sin, and everyone who saw it told me to go to the hospital it looked so bad.

After about 2 weeks or it started to get smaller, but the thing that I noticed, and should have realized, was that the blood in the thing had to go somewhere... and, as usual, gravity wins. So, while the thing drained, you could see, day by day, the blood moving under my skin. It sounds pretty gross, and it looked even more gross. The first time I noticed it was after taking off my sock one day, and noticing that I had a red mark where the elastic is. Then I noticed that I had a bunch of it on the heel of my food. Then I noticed that I could see it all the way up my leg, coming from the contusion. I went to the Dr. again and she told me that that was what happened, and eventually my body would move it out of itself. 

Not long after that I noticed a red dust inside my sock; my body was pudhing the blood out through the skin. After a few weeks or so of that, it was pretty much all gone. I 'd say that it took me about 3 months or so to get rid of everything if I remember correctly, this was a few years ago. The pain pretty much stopped though after the first 2 weeks, and I was cleared to play again.

Best of luck to ya man. If it's the same thing I had, and yours is that much bigger than mine, You've got a lot of grossness ahead of you. Hopefully the pain goes away for you soon. I just though I'd tell you about the blood draining, so when you see a red mark going down your butt to the back of your leg and into your sock, you don't nearly have a heart attack like I did. 

Have a quick recovery,




joe


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## xkiwi (Jul 12, 2004)

Hi 
..The worst trapped hematomas can create a compartment syndrome, with lots of consequences......neural damage, muscle damage, from decreased blood supply

I have seen several severe quadriceps hematomas that required surgical evacuation.

I would suggest consulting an Orthopedic Surgeon...esp one interested in sports injuries

m
p/s... don't wait too long!! time is imperative


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## xkiwi (Jul 12, 2004)

<just read the other post>
...calcification of a hematoma is usually benign....but I would not want to ride all day on a couple of avocado pits 
seek additional help
m
good luck


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*RICE it*

RICE means rest, ice, compression, elevation. Kind of hard to do the elevation thing with your injury. After the initial swelling goes down, switch to heat to help the blood flow. Exercise will have a similar effect. Obviously your injury is beyond the simple "I bumped it" situation, but the basic principles apply. I'm guessing that you will still be feeling this thing four months from now, and maybe longer.


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## curlybike (Jan 23, 2002)

I had a very severe bruise that started at my hip and made a purple stripe down my leg finally causing a purple foot. I went to the ER and they promptly put me on anti-biotics to prevent infection. I suggesy that you at least get an actual medical opinion after a vist to the office. You may regret not doing that.


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## Mersault (Jan 3, 2005)

*Flank Hematoma (WARNING picture included )*

I tripped at work and I hit my side on a pole. My side swelled up so much that I had to lower my pants to wear them. I went the next day to the emergency room and the doctor there just said “wow, that’s a big hematoma”. “Try some heat to help move the blood around and take some Motrin for pain, it’ll take a month or two for it to go away”. The pain did go away, but I was stiff for weeks. Also the blood did move and I got black and blue by my spine area. Then I went to my primary doctor and he said the same thing. Although he was more thorough and analyzed my urine to make sure there was no blood in it, making sure there was no kidney damage. He also said I was lucky; if I had hit my other side like that I probably would have ruptured my spleen. 

It did take about two months for the discoloration to go away. It was red, then black/blue/ then yellow. The swelling was down after maybe 3 weeks or so.

I have a picture to share here, I took them at the time just incase something worse would happen. Thankfully I’ve completely healed. I hope you recover completely as well.

Oh I got back on bike after a week and a half. Luckily for me that injury didn’t affect my cycling position. It was worse to sit on a chair


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## vitdoc (Nov 22, 2004)

*re: Hematoma*

I had a similar injury last June. Hit a piece of wood that was across the bike path at about 20mph. Hit hard on my side/buttock. Leg swelled up dramatically. No fracture. I was off the bike for several weeks but really was not back for probably nearly 6 weeks.
One interesting complication of a really big hematoma is that so much blood can get trapped that the blood count drops. My hematocrit dropped nearly 10 points from a normal hematocrit of about 43-44% to 35%. The body gradually resorbs the blood and iron and produces new red blood cells. I couldn't go up a !% grade without feeling awful.(the opposite of blood doping) My entire leg ultimately turned purple and by knee and subsequently my ankle swelled up until the blood was finally absorbed. It tracks down through the tissue planes by gravity.
Usually if a compartment syndrome occurs there are symptoms immediately of lack of function of something due to nerve or vascular compression. If everything works it is unlikely that any significant compartment syndrome is happening.
Rest and analgesics. I really doubt if anything else but time helps much.


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