Knee Pain And Hematoma In Vastus Lateralis After Trauma. Tendon Injury?
Hi
7 weeks ago I hit the area above my left kneecap on a metal box.
I thought it was the knee at first but seems it was slightly above this on the Vastus Lateralis tendon insertion?
It seemed to settle after a day or so but then after 6 or 7 days it really started to flare up. I went to a sports doc who said I had a small hematoma in the lower VL and to do some one leg squats.
I still have a lot of pain in this knee, upper kneecap area that radiates into the lower VL and slightly to the side of the knee that really burns at night. I have also started to experience similar pains, minus the burning, in the right knee i presume due to some compensation going on.
Any thoughts on this - could it be tendonitis or something more? What can i do to treat it ?
thanks
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Joshua Answers:Hi there nameless.
You bet I have thoughts! :)
So let's see.
1. Doesn't sound like
Tendonitis, though you may have had some pre-existing something that got irritated with the walking into hard objects activity.
See:
What Is Tendonitis?2. If it's showing up on the other side, I too would think that the body is just mimicing the pain for balance. The body like to be in balance, but it's not very smart sometimes.
3. Unless you have more information to give me, from what you've said, hematoma and an
ACUTE Process of Inflammation makes sense and fits.
4. I'm guessing that you've done some one legged squats...and that it hasn't helped. True/False?
I guess it could....it would get things moving, put some beneficial stress on the area. Except, if that stress irritates it even more.....
You have inflammation. And if it's on tendon, ligament, or the connective tissue close to the bone, ESPECIALLY the connective tissue close to and wrapping the bone, then it is expected to have the pain you describe. That will last for a good while unless you help it go away.
And if you actually bruised the bone....OUCH! Bone bruises hurt. A lot. And for a long time.
Again, unless you help it get better.
Were
I you, I would spend a SERIOUS 3-7 days Icing the heck out of that spot/area.
Ice pack 5 minutes on, 5 off. As many times per day as possible. Really.
And towards the end of the day, instead of ice packing, you can get something like a frozen water bottle and start massaging the painful area. Gently at first, push in as you can. Literally you will be massaging the bone (depending on where you hit it).
As things start to feel better, do more ice massage and less ice packing.
The ice cold may feel like a deep hurt/ache in the knee/bone. Respect this, and don't push it too much. You won't actually be damaging yourself, but it hurts in a special way...you'll know what I mean.
Point being, Ice and massage (and ice massage)
Partly you want the 'squeezing the sponge' of the (ice) massage, and you also want the ciruclatory benefits of cold. The area you describe doesn't have a lot of direct blood flow, so you have to force it.
Possibly I read where you described hitting yourself as a bit lower than you did. Still, the same icing and massage applies.
When the doc said hematoma, did he mean that you had bleeding/brusing deep in there and it turned hard? Or just that there's swelling in there?
I don't know that I'd call it 'tendon injury'. Let's just call it a painful bruise.
Regardless, there's only one thing to do about it. Old stuff out, and new stuff in, and that makes everything better.
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----------------------- Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com
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