After my stack last week I have been soldiering on thinking I needed to keep moving to stop seizing up but I don't think it's working.
Initially I'd screech in pain if I bent my leg.It's painful walking , with all muscles pulling against each other and the leg collapses occasionally. I can bend it now and squat a little but it hurts. It aches like crazy by the end of the day & night so its hard to sleep even on strong pills.
I think I've badly strained & bruised the right Quad ( thigh) muscle.I haven't bothered with a doctor as they'd just say rest + pop pills which I'm doing and my partner used to be a massage therapist so we know a bit about muscles.
Anyone else had something like this and how long did it keep you off the water? Would b happen just as a crappy season turns good..[}:)][}:)]
Now this is something i know about 
I tore the tendon in my thigh that connects to the hip while playing soccer. hopefully yours isn't as bad as that. What the doctors advised me to do is when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed rub deep heat gel or something similar into your leg. I'm not sure if it sped up my recovery but it made the pain go away and allowed me to walk without the pain and actually lift my leg.
Give it a go!!!
sue you know what this sport is all about, sometimes you need to take your balls out of your handbag
well like i said mine was torn so it took me about 2 months. But if you use the heat gel and just do some stretches (easy stretches) it would only take about 1-2 weeks.
Eek! Better not take 3 months or I'm going to be unbearable to live with..grr[}:)][}:)]
Heat, heat heat. Use heat gels and wheatbags too. The more heat the better the circulation, the more oppotunity for muscle repair. Ice is good on initial damage to reduce swelling and restrict blood flow.
I was wondering whether to use heat or ice as i know heat encourages the blood flow which isn't good with inflammation.Pity I didn't use ice earlier. I'll stay positive and get some crutches so once its screaming I can give it a rest but still get around and be a bit more sedentary..Grr I was just getting really sailing fit and lost weight..now I'll get unfit & fat again..[}:)]
Argh!! Its supposed to blow 20 -30kts today grr grr grr..[}:)]
Sounds like you might havea minor tear in the muscle.
Ice is needed untill the inflamation settles.
You really need to get in and see a sports osteopath. They arent expensive and they will get you back up to strenth quicker than sitting around with your leg in the air. Warning though they will hurt you on the first visit cause they should be getting into your leg with massage to break down and reduce some scar tissue thats forming around the tear.
Depending how bad it is they should put you on a program of specific stretches straight away as well as some strength excercisesto build it all up better than it was before.
I've emailed my regular chiro and I'm waiting for a reply. Got some crutches ,painkillers + anti inflammatories and I'm supposed to stay off it for 2 days..Can't see me doing that but the crutches should help ease the load off it.
I was told NOT to use heat packs but to ice it often when it hurts and not to go sailing until I could stand for a couple of hours without pain and do gentle stretches without pain..umm wait & see .They said I could do some nasty damage if I went back too soon and rehurt it.Time to pop some pills.
Here's some professional advice.
1. No one can diagnose your complaint based on your original post. Did you suffer an impact on the thigh?? If so then it is possible that you have suffered a contusion type injury which can be quite painful. If you did not have a direct impact then something else is likely to be going on that will be even harder and frankly silly to get advice on a forum for.
2. Assuming you have a contusion - the best immediate care which it sounds like you neglected is Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. You should do this for the first 5-6 days. The thigh can bleed a fair bit as there is a really good blood supply, and generally the inflammatory phase lasts about 6-7 days. Control the inflammation and bleeding and you will heal faster, do not and it will take more time. Do not get gung ho on massage and heat - in a small but enough cases this can result in a chronic inflammatory problem referred to as myositis ossificans - completely avoidable and is the result of poor management.
3. Now that you know what you should no next time - lets move forward. Again i am assuming that you have a contusion, that you have aggravated by your recent activities. Considering that you are down the track a little, it is still valuable to use ice and compression, it is possible that you kick started the inflammatory phase all over again with the yard work, so get ice (frozen water - gel packs are not cold enough!!!!!) and compression going. About 20 mins every 2 hours, and ensure that you have a damp cloth between the ice and your skin - otherwise ice burn!!
While your thigh is feeling numb from the ice you can do some GENTLE ranging activities with your hip and knee. DO NOT stretch your thigh - you can further damage healing soft tissues and go back to the start. I find that pain is a wonderful guide of what you can and cannot do at this stage.
After about a week of this you should feel like you have reasonable range and much less pain. It is usually at this time that you might like some very gentle massage - think efflourage, this will start to encourage some increased blood flow and help the body heal. This will take you up to about 2 weeks from now. From an exercise point of view, you should do what you can tolerate - google exercises like straight leg raise, and wall squats, as well as gentle walking and cycling as tolerated - again use pain as your guide, and progress as able.
The above information is a guide only and is on the assumption that you suffered a corkie (contusion) to your thigh (quads). If you are finding pain not resolving or other symptoms presenting then go and see a physio or sports med doctor - they are trained better than any others to diagnose and treat conditions of this ilk.
Oh and the comment about the regular chiro being the reason you did not suffer a bad neck injury from your horse fall is complete BS. It was luck and a helmet, but i bet it kept you going back to your chiro. that comment is nearly as good as the ones i hear where the chiros state they can make you live longer with regular treatment.....
Now there are great practitioners of allied health all over the place - but i hate this crap that some of them spout like above. It gives the rest a bad name....sorry rant over. Good luck with the leg - i think it will take up to a month to feel 100%.
Just try ice cubes, the gel packs don't get cold enough and as a result warm up very quickly, and don't lower the tissue temp at depth where it is needed.
Any advice for sore rotor cuffs, damaged my shoulder and bicep ( i think) from sailing with incorrect harness lines position followed by a sudden inpact to that area. To begin with i had very little use of my arm but two weeks later i can no move it around but certain movements cause pain, no sailing or surfing for the last 3 weeks
While everyone's giving free advice, I have this very serious problem. I've worn the skin of my feet and toes after three solid days of blastin in 30 knots, gybeing, tackin and jumping....I don't know how I'm going to get through it.....I've seriously worn my tan off
......Seriously Sue, I hope your better soon. I swear by voltaren gel, used it the last time I had a similar problem....I found it hard to walk for about 3 days but the gel helped(my 2 cents and by no means an expert opinion.....well not even a novice opinion.
I'm with you jase, my feet and toes are so sore and bruised after the xmas holidays and windsurfing. I've hobbled around the office all day today. No pain, no gain or joy windsurfing. Arms and shoulders back in alignment after being pulled from sockets yesterday
Did a similar thing late last year, massive catapult and got slammed really hard onto my gear. Landed on mast pretty hard on left thigh (also trashed brand new boom and sail batten as well as tweaking lower back slightly!). Ice pack to thigh immediately I got home, then regularly iced and took plenty of arnica. Initially had difficulty bending or straightening left leg (like straightening or bending leg to get into bed was near impossible!) and couldn't sleep on left side at all. After about 5-7 days, leg was nearly back to normal (I'm pushing 50 so not usually quick to recover from injuries).
Not sure whether your injury is the same Sue, think I just bruised the thigh muscles and didn't strain them as much as you sound like you did (you appear to be in a lot more pain than I was). I've got a really good local physio who works wonders on injuries like these, maybe find a good physio in you area? (have used chiropractor many times in past but only for alignment related issues, physios are definitely better at dealing with strains/bruising).
Already feeling better after a day of anti imflammatories (sp?) and semi rest..Still hanging out to get back for next week..GO away wind![}:)]
( just joking)..
Came across the RICE method when I started getting running injuries.
Ice and Elevation (raise the injured part above the level of your heart) in the first 12-24 hours is the best way to minimise swelling/bruising/inflammation.
With regards physios, I had an unusually reduced healing time experience with one random physio.
In 2006 I was booked for 3 weeks in Maui. Six days before leaving I badly sprained /twisted my ankle which "blew up like a balloon" even with the ice/elevation treatment. The next day I stayed at home and continued the ice/elevation. The following day I hobbled into work and randomly selected a physio (1 from a list of 49 in St.Leonards). Had a half hour treatment that day and the following day, which involved some severe leg manipulation.
On the 4th day after the injury, I was almost sprinting at around 70% top speed which was an instruction from the physio.
During my life so far, I have sprained both ankles many times, and this recovery was easily the fastest by the proverbial "golden mile". I was windsurfing the very first day in Maui.
So it is possible that since the physio knew I had a short time frame for recovery, he accelerated the treatment process.
It made me better understand why injured NRL players get back on the paddock so soon.
Cheers
I think what Dam71 says couldn't have been put better. First aid as stated at the time of the injury, with follow up asap afterward by sports injury clinician would give your best prognosis for healing. It's a matter of getting through the inflammatory process before proceeding to the next step.
JUst in case anyone else gets a similar injury. 3 weeks and just off crutches ( mainly for getting up during the night when it had seized up after inactivity.
Chiro saw it after 2 1/2 weeks - said soft tissue injury good job of it.A lot of bruising around the knee but a lot of that was because the quad area doesn't have much room for blood / bruising so its been seeping down to the knee area as I've been moving around. After treating she said best to keep moving and do as many activities as I can + gave me some exercises to help make sure the muscles would slip over each other and not bind together.Ok to sail board but not in strong wind..yeah right..
I hobbled in to see her and walked out..( although it seized up a bit later after inactivity.)
Sailed after 16days . I expected bending the leg was going to be the worse bit but I managed to bend my leg to waterstart & get on the board to uphaul. Sideways pull on the knee had it hurting and stepped off with a screech.I went out in gentle conditions and came in when I was really powered up + chop as i didn't want to risk another stack.
2 sails this week ( 3weeks after) 1st one hobbling a bit on shore but ok on water and not hobbling after..! 2nd no worries although its still there so I wouldn't want a catapult or sideways injury.Just have to be careful not to try many jumps in case I stack it.On the water again..
So 3 weeks..been doing all the exercises. Chiro said 6 - 8 weeks to fully heal although I think maybe 4 if Im not stupid.
