Myositis Ossificans and Anterior Compartment Syndrome symptoms, Kicked in the side of the calf and shin twice while playing soccer

by Danielle
(California)

A couple of weeks ago I was kicked in the side of the calf and a little on the shin in a soccer game... I got a huge goose egg immediately... The area swelled about 2-3 inches! It was insane.

The trainers at school had me ice and elevate. So, 2 days later severe bruising and continued inflammation occurred.

My lower leg was painful to the touch. The trainers massaged the blood out of the affected area and after a week and a half the bruising had subsided.

I continued competition and got re-kicked in the leg, but this time it was much lower and on the front side of my shin. Goose-egg immediately formed again. Immediate bruising/bleeding was happening inside my leg and a lot of swelling. It was uncomfortable and tight feeling.

I was almost was to the point of tears just sitting down. My entire lower leg was black and blue for an entire week. The trainers made me sit out a day. Then, I returned to competition with my leg wrapped and padded up for protection. New bruising patterns would occur from the compression of my padding and my leg wouldn't really hurt after I was really warmed up and sweaty the pain kinda went numb.

The only time I would feel the pain was when I would take my shoes and padding off... my shin felt like it was going to explode with pressure and was PAINFUL for me to even tickle.

One game my foot went numb and I had to come out of the game because it my foot being numb was very uncomfortable and distracting.

The area where I took the first blow is now hard but it isn't raised (meaning it is not a hard goose egg that sticks out, but I can find it very easily because it is very hard with a bone-like density when you push on it.

Oh yeah, and sometimes when I am standing there is like a tickling feeling underneath my foot like something is crawling around in there (i know there is no critter in there, but that is what it feels like haha)

There is tenderness on the inside of my ankle and just behind the anklebone (right in between the ankle bone and where my heel starts to round off to the Achilles) I find this weird because I didn't get kicked there... my leg also hurts to flex that running muscle on your shin.

It also hurts to stand on my heel.

I have numerous pictures but I don't think that I can upload them all. I tried to take daily pictures, but I kinda forgot a couple of days but I think that they would be of some use.

But, I can only up load one right now so should I send some to you via email? Thank you so so so so much as this is a mystery to the trainers at my university and their main treatment has been ice, ice, ice, ice, ice, but that is their cure-all treatment for everything ;)


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Joshua Answers:

Hi Danielle.

Yikes.

A few questions, and a more important one at the bottom of the page.

1. In general, do you bruise easily?

2. Any problems with anemia?

3. How old are you? I'm guessing college aged?

4. What has happened before when you've gotten kicked playing soccer?


So those would be good questions to answer for me.


Now...

I'm not at all worried about the bruising, per se. Discoloration, etc, is not a problem, however, you have described a couple things that conern me.

You said "..a bone-like density..."

So you're looking at myositis ossificans, or the very real possibility of it developing. What this means is that you have a hematoma (internal bleeding, bruising) that for some reason calcifies into bone.

This page on Orthopedics.about.com about myositis ossificans and this one on www.SportsInjuryClinic.net say just a tiny bit about it, and that's about as much as you're going to find on it on the net.

Point being, you've taken a couple hard blows and from what you describe, are a perfecte candidate for, and should get worried about, the development of a calcified hematoma.

In and of themselves, they're not intrinsically bad or dangerous, but imagine having a marble in your calf and getting kicked like you were again right on that spot....

So we'll need to talk about that.


Also, you got kicked on the front, on the shin. It sounds like you have some level of Anterior Compartment Syndrome.

I thought I had a page on this, but it seems I don't, so I'll make one for you. Until then, look at this MensHealth article for a first look. (I don't think it's the most accurate info, but it's the best I could find on short notice.) MensHealth Anterior Compartment Syndrome article

Basically, you can get swelling in the shins that gets 'locked' in, and pressure can build up so much that you will basically pop your connective tissue sheath...all the way out to the skin. A big, dangerous fissure. Bad bad news.

Bad news at that extreme, painful overpressure that can cause cell death on the medium end, and painful swelling that takes a long time to go down and is easily irritated and able to quickly progress to dangerous levels on the mild end.


So let's find out more about where you're at.

Tell me more about symptoms in the shin. How swollen, how tight, how painful, etc.

One way or another you need to get right to work on helping it out, I'll help you with that.

And, if it gets any worse faster than we can reduce it, it may be worth it to take a trip to the hospital and get tested to see how bad it is. Literally, when it's at a bad and dangerous point, they have to puncture the structure to let pressure out.

I don't know if it's that bad, and I don't want to scare you, and, I want you to be aware.

I'm a bit concerned your trainers haven't mentioned either of these possibilities. Maybe I'm reading it as worse than it is, but.....let's investigate.



Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com