shin bruise from kickboxing, now unable to move ankle

(NJ)

I kickbox regularly and shin bruises and knots are not uncommon at all. However, this time I landed a kick on the front of my shin that I felt immediately throb all the way through to my calf muscle. As the day went on, my calf and ankle started to swell, I lost some range of motion in my foot, parts of the foot were numb/tingly and would feel "shocks" while walking, and it hurt to put weight on the foot (mostly to the outside of the foot).

I began icing it and heating it, as well as stretching the foot in hopes of regaining some motion.

The next morning I woke up and the pain was almost unbearable(shin so I went and had x-rays taken. They told me there were no breaks and that I had just severely bruised it and that is what was causing the swelling and numbness in my foot and ankle. They put me on crutches and told me to stay off of it as much as possible.

Well it has now been about 10 days, and while some swelling has gone down and I have regained some motion in my foot(up and down only), I now have severe bruising in my foot around the edges of it, still cannot feel parts of my foot, and it hurts at the base of my calf muscle any time I try to move my ankle left or right.

I've been sticking it in an ice bucket at least once a day for 30 minutes, using my crutches, and also heating/massaging it as night trying to get some motion back in it.

I am mostly just wondering if this require further medical attention or am I taking the right steps toward recovery?



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Joshua Answers:

Hi NJ.

It's been a month or so since you asked this. Give me an update on how things are now.

My guess is that when you landed that kick/impact, there there was some shear force in the structure and you ripped/tore some connective tissue in there.

Maybe it was connective tissue away from bone, maybe a muscle structure away from connective tissue wrappings, something like that.

That bruising in the foot is due to fluid from swelling (and possibly some blood from injury) falling south due to gravity. Elevate your foot/leg up when you can.

If you're numb and such now, it's either because you happened to compress a nerve and it's now bruised and therefore compressed and not functioning right.

I would need more description of:

1. Exactly what you did, as far as the action of the kick and the impact event.

2. Very detailed description of pain and symptoms.


If you're not WAY better, I suggest that you get an MRI.

And in general you'll want the Reversing Shin Splints ebook. Though you're going to be treating your entire lower leg.

I'm a bit worried about blood clotting (not from the event those symptoms came on too fast) so I'm curious as to how you're doing now.

Basically there's lots that could be going on, and I should stop theorizing until you update me on where you're at, what's been happening, and detailed description of symptoms/sensations/side effects.

Also, less heat, more ice. Ice Dips in a 5 gallon bucket, 10 seconds a pop, as many as you can do in a day.



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