Leg Damaged From Low Kicks

[AshiharaFan]

I made some mistakes with an injury recently and now I need to find out how to correct my follies and speed up recovery.

Last week we were drilling low kicks to the legs without pads. I was drilling with Shihan and it didn't feel like he was doing anything to my leg that I hadn't felt before and there was no visible bruising to my leg either. This was on a Thursday. I rested on Friday and took my kids to the museum on Saturday because I had promised them that I would do so earlier in the week (one thing I always try NOT to do is break a promise to my kids).

Here are the two mistakes that I made. I never should have went out on Saturday and should've just postponed the trip for next week instead. Also, I had applied heat to my leg on Saturday as well and wore an Icy Hot patch on my thigh while I was out with the kids. Conventional wisdom says to avoid heat the first 24 hours (only use ice) so I thought I followed proper protocol. I just came across another viewpoint that said that heat should be avoided the first 72 Hours after injury and by using heat within that time frame makes things worse and prolongs the injury.

I wonder if this is the case with my situation. It has been a week since the injury and my leg still hurts. There is no visible bruising and the swelling went down but it still hurts and I am still limited to how much weight I can put on it. The only visible difference between my injured thigh and my other one is that the veins in my injured thigh are slightly more visible/darker than the veins of my other leg. Where the veins are darker/more noticeable just so happen to be where the soreness is concentrated.

Anyone here ever come across this before? Thoughts or advice?

Btw, inb4 "Dude you shouldn't drill low kicks without pads."

 

[ARIZE]

I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but go see a doctor. If a person who is used to contact sports/martial arts, feels that something is wrong, then most of the times something is wrong...

 

[j123]

I made some mistakes with an injury recently and now I need to find out how to correct my follies and speed up recovery.

Last week we were drilling low kicks to the legs without pads. I was drilling with Shihan and it didn't feel like he was doing anything to my leg that I hadn't felt before and there was no visible bruising to my leg either. This was on a Thursday. I rested on Friday and took my kids to the museum on Saturday because I had promised them that I would do so earlier in the week (one thing I always try NOT to do is break a promise to my kids).

Here are the two mistakes that I made. I never should have went out on Saturday and should've just postponed the trip for next week instead. Also, I had applied heat to my leg on Saturday as well and wore an Icy Hot patch on my thigh while I was out with the kids. Conventional wisdom says to avoid heat the first 24 hours (only use ice) so I thought I followed proper protocol. I just came across another viewpoint that said that heat should be avoided the first 72 Hours after injury and by using heat within that time frame makes things worse and prolongs the injury.

I wonder if this is the case with my situation. It has been a week since the injury and my leg still hurts. There is no visible bruising and the swelling went down but it still hurts and I am still limited to how much weight I can put on it. The only visible difference between my injured thigh and my other one is that the veins in my injured thigh are slightly more visible/darker than the veins of my other leg. Where the veins are darker/more noticeable just so happen to be where the soreness is concentrated.

Anyone here ever come across this before? Thoughts or advice?

Btw, inb4 "Dude you shouldn't drill low kicks without pads."

Dude you shouldn't drill low kicks without pads

Spoiler

 

[CFGroup]

Repeated blows to the same spot can cause bone bruise's but all the one's I've had turned the meat over them every beautiful color of the rainbow. My last one was visible on my hip for almost a year...

Question, is the pain staying the same? Getting worse?

Do you have phantom pain anywhere else in your leg or is it just located in the contacted spot.

Phantom pain in other areas plus the central one can be the result of nerve damage.

I still get searing heat numbness and pain in my jaw, ear, shoulder and arm from landing breakfall Ukemi wrong that crunched my neck. Doc said I compressed a disk and damaged the nerve sheathing that comes out between the vertebrae. I can only mouse left handed now a year and a half later if I don't want to aggravate the symptoms.

 

[AshiharaFan]

Dude you shouldn't drill low kicks without pads

Spoiler

Ha Ha.

To be honest I will not do that again. Kick drills with pads, shinguards and kicking shields is my limit from this point on.

 

[AshiharaFan]

Repeated blows to the same spot can cause bone bruise's but all the one's I've had turned the meat over them every beautiful color of the rainbow. My last one was visible on my hip for almost a year...

A bone bruise is actually a more terrifying thought to me than a muscular bruise. A severe bone bruise can interrupt blood flow and that can cause the bone to die which is irreversible.

Question, is the pain staying the same? Getting worse?

It's actually getting better. It's much better than it was last week but I still have soreness and I haven't been back to the dojo since then. I am hoping that I can find a way to speed up recovery so I get back to training.

Do you have phantom pain anywhere else in your leg or is it just located in the contacted spot.

Well just today I think I felt some type of twinge on the inside of my thigh which lasted for less than a minute but at this point I don't want to read too much into that just yet. If it happens again then I'll be concerned about it.

Phantom pain in other areas plus the central one can be the result of nerve damage.

One thing I have been noticing is that at times when I immediately get up from sitting or laying down for a long time my leg will get this fatigued type of feel for a few seconds and then it will go away allowing me to walk. By fatigued I mean the kind of feeling you get from lactic build up in a fatigued muscle. I have no idea why that is.

I still get searing heat numbness and pain in my jaw, ear, shoulder and arm from landing breakfall Ukemi wrong that crunched my neck. Doc said I compressed a disk and damaged the nerve sheathing that comes out between the vertebrae. I can only mouse left handed now a year and a half later if I don't want to aggravate the symptoms.

Ouch. I hope your situation progresses for the better for you and doesn't get any worse. *Sigh* the things us weekend warriors have to go through to get strong.

 

[Phlog]

Your leg is damaged, it will heal. There are no magic words, rub downs or potions.

It's likely a contusion within the muscle sacks so no bleeding is visible, it's actually reasonably dangerous because of the pressure problem, but as it's getting better, not worse, no problem.

You could do some foam rolling or something that causes alternative stimulus in the area, as that would reduce the pain signal, but extra pressure may be a bad thing.

You'll be fine.

 

[Tayski]

Massaging might sound painful and counter-productive but that's usually a good way to get such injuries to heal as you help blood go through the injured part of your leg. Walking is also a good thing to do, even though it might hurt.

I'd also avoid any training until you feel back to normal as getting more damage to that same spot will only make things worse.

Lots of sleep and good nutrition (rich in calcium and protein) will help heal quicker.

Good luck.

 

[AshiharaFan]

The leg is fine for the most part. It's gotten much, much better and continues to improve. I'm pretty sure it's a bone bruise but ice, elevation, ibuprofen, massage, walking on it and arnica gel have really sped things up for me. I've had visible bruises on my legs before with no significant pain but this time around no visible bruising but pain that lingered for a while.

EDIT - And light stretching seems to have been helping as well.

 

[Azam]

The advice above is good. Actively try to encourage repair by walking, stretching & eating well and of course getting enough rest.

Resist the urge to go training until you feel you're 100% - I fucked up my knees further by not doing the above properly as I should have to the point that I have knee issues even years later - that flares up from time to time.

 

[AshiharaFan]

The advice above is good. Actively try to encourage repair by walking, stretching & eating well and of course getting enough rest.

Resist the urge to go training until you feel you're 100% - I fucked up my knees further by not doing the above properly as I should have to the point that I have knee issues even years later - that flares up from time to time.

I have to be honest, I was very, very tempted to go to the Dojo tonight but decided that it would be best to wait until I am 100% (as you suggested) so that I wouldn't have to keep taking time off due to re-aggravation of the same thing. I have continued training in the past with bruised thighs, fucked up shins (both shins simultaneously at one point), bruised ribs (the worst pain I think I have ever felt in my life), jammed fingers, messed up shoulder (which still gives me problems years later) and the like, but I've decided to slow down my tough guy act and start to act a little more sensibly.....that and my wife is getting in my ear more and more over these things.

 

[Pope Leo VII]

uhhh no shin guards <45>