I have never had the exact injury you noted... but, you did ask if you thought Rehab would help... the simple answer is yes. However, reading between the lines you are more concerned about two things:

1) loosing fitness.

2) not willing to add rest to the recovery because of fear/anxiety about loosing fitness.

The first step toward recovery is rest... it's called RICE...not ICE. Without rest, recovery will not occur. You can not expect therapy or other forms of recovery aids to succeed without rest... that means stopping until your body says it healed is the key. Unfortunately, that may not fit our schedual... but, the reality is that you don't have a choice if you want to recover successfully.

There are ways to stay in relatively good shape (without stressing the leg)... but they can not and should not be attempted until the leg is heal enough to be subjected to even minimul stress. A physical therapist should be able to help you out in that area (but, don't expect him to agree with you when you expect more than should be done).

Until you take rest as a part of recovery seriously... your chances for success are very restricted.

FWIW Joe Moya

Thanks for your advice. I will certainly have to give it plenty of rest. Assuming I do, what should I be doing in the first 24 to 72 hours before I can see a doctor. The ER did not give me much advice besides rest. Should I attempt to stretch it to prevent blood from setting in the thigh???

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"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift." Pre

That sort of advice is difficult to make by way of the internet... However, if you ASSUME (and, I really hate that word) that the ER people didn't notice and extreme degree of severity and the internal bruising has not progressed moreso than would normally be expected (and that term "normal" can be really subjective - again, tough to tell over a ng post) . You shouldn't do anything more than what is considered typical - that would be R.I.C.E. You should used ice (only) for the first 24 hrs.

After the first 24 hrs., unless significant swelling continues to occur heat can be applied. Some sports therapist (specially those that treat these kinds of injuries for football players) will use a combination cold then hot therapy after the first 24-48 hrs. I done that hot and cold therapy - it's pretty painful if the injury is severe. Also, you need a sport therapy specialist to determine if cold/hot therapy is appropriate for your condition. Other things you can do in the first 24-48 hrs. is elevate to help reduce the swelling. What you don't want to do is aggravate the injury with activity or premature/excessive heat. Also, Asprin/Tylenol can also help (provided you have no other medical issues that prevent the use of Asprin or Tylenol). Basicly, within the first 24-48 hrs. (unless the injury progresses beyond what seems or feels normal), your best mediciene is rest, elevate and ice.

As for stretching, that is typically not recommended for at least 24-48 hrs. And then only normal range of motion (or slightly less than normal range of motion) should be used. Don't try and hurry the mobility issue initially. What you will most likely do is simply slow down the healing process. The stiffening up is a part of the healing process... specially in the first few days (usually 3-6 days - depending upon degree of damage). Finally, Do Not use Electro Stimulas during the first few days/weeks (at least).

However, you really should see a sport specialist doctor... because most of what I posted is assuming the condition is not extreme. And the bad thing about assumptions are that they can be very wrong. What might be proper treatment in 3-6 days may be needed to be delayed for weeks... or, there could be other blood clotting issues that can make ice (or heat) not proper therapy....or, ... well you get the message. It's difficult to determine periods of time or timing of therapy without seeing the condition. It's equally difficult to determine if proper medication is needed.

Good Luck on your recovery... just don't be in such a hurry that you take two steps back for every step you take forward. Our schedules don't determine the bodies healing schedule. Patients is the key. There are very few ways to speed up the healing process. But, there are many ways to slow it down. My rule of thumb is to always give the body MORE time than it needs to recover and you seldom are wrong. Even if you feel perfectly fine, waiting just one or two extra day(s) can make a BIG difference in long term and successful recovery. A simple extra couple of days beyond what seems necessary for recovery can mean the difference between being at 100% or having a subpar (or blowing the whole) season.

FWIW Joe Moya

Joe,

Thanks for all the advice. It really helps. I am taking it easy this weekend and then I will be seeing my physican this coming week.

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"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift." Pre