Nearly two weeks ago I had a pretty nasty crash on my bike during a road race and had some road rash and a very large hematoma on my hip from hitting the pavement. Well the road rash is almost gone, but the liquid jiggling around on my hip is still there. It is going down slowly, but 80% of it is still there 2 weeks later…Is this normal? It doesn’t hurt to ride, running is Ok, the jiggling gets kinda annoying after a few miles…
Thoughts?
Is getting it drained an option, most people I speak to say No since it might open the hematoma up to infection.
My spouse is very good at treating road rash and bruises/cuts/scrapes, having had two kids and a clumsy husband bike racing and in school sports. For hematoma she uses witch hazel, arnica gell, and absorbine liniment. I know nothing of the chemical or medical properties of these, but they seem to work well, along with massage per earlier response. Good luck.
Yeah, assuming there is no blood clot issue, then it just takes time. Riding actually helps break the hematoma up. The worst bruises I get are always on the hips after a bad crash.
My n=1 experience with a hip hematoma from a bike accident is that it will take several months to fully resolve. In my case, seven months and counting. Massage (self or spouse or professional) with the hands and rolling on a lacrosse ball seemed to help get the “harder” tissue broken up. The “liquid” in the hematoma was re-absorbed by my body in about 4 months, leaving the “harder” tissue as the residue. Good luck.
Sorry to hear about your crash. You likely have a Morel-Lavallee lesion, which is a closed degloving injury that is usually associated with severe trauma and sudden deceleration. It is essentially a separation of the tissue layers in your hip and a large hematoma has formed. Rest assured, everything will be fine. This is something you do not want drained or opened up as *it will *get infected and take many more months to heal. I developed the same lesion in December after being t-boned by a car while training for Ironman Melbourne. Mine took 3 months to resolve and I still have some discoloration in the area. I decided to keep training and ended up doing a PR.
Good luck!
Ran 10 miles yesterday with no problem, but have a little burning sensation this morning…what is that
Blood is a huge irritant to tissues when it pools, part of why bruises hurt so much. When you put those underlying tissues to work (via run/ride, etc) then they will be temporarily sore. You may also need to get the hip looked at to ensure you didn’t have some other injury to it if the burning continues.
Foam roll, deep tissue massage, arnica helps with bruising as does time.
A large hematoma like that will take a while to resolve. We saw them a lot in the old days when we had to pull femoral and arterial sheaths in CCU. Blood thinners and holes in the femoral artery can do some fancy bruising.
I have been running 6 or 7 miles without any burning…but ran 10 yesterday and I think that is why it is irritated…biking and swimming don’t bother it…maybe the jostling of the run is what bothers it the next day.
Is getting it drained an option, most people I speak to say No since it might open the hematoma up to infection.
You missed the opportunity to manually drain it when the skin was open. Your option now is a large-bore needle and syringe. Risk of infection should be minimal. But as it is, sounds like not much of a nuisance to you.
I have one too! 11 days old, started out like half a grapefruit, now more like half an orange. Skin all the way to my calf is discolored. I’ve been foam rollering my leg a bunch, which seems to help, as does exercise. Sitting still in my office chair is kind of miserable.
I had a pretty bad bike crash on April 11th and ended up with a rather large hematoma on my thigh. I couldn’t even lay on my right side in bed for a good three weeks. Pain from associated road rash (and I had a lot of it) was a joke compared to the pain caused by the hematoma. In hindsight, maybe I should have had it drained.
It’s now June 30th and while it’s smaller in size than what it was originally, it’s still there. A spongy, waterbed like pocket on my upper thigh… a place where no woman wants or needs an extra “pocket.” In addition, if I bump into it or lay on it just right it still produces some discomfort. I read that it can take months (as in five to six months) to reabsorb. I’m not holding my breath though. I’m anticipating having to wear this blob for the rest of my life.
I’m glad to read that yours reabsorbed rapidly without any issue.
I had a pretty bad bike crash on April 11th and ended up with a rather large hematoma on my thigh. I couldn’t even lay on my right side in bed for a good three weeks. Pain from associated road rash (and I had a lot of it) was a joke compared to the pain caused by the hematoma. In hindsight, maybe I should have had it drained.
It’s now June 30th and while it’s smaller in size than what it was originally, it’s still there. A spongy, waterbed like pocket on my upper thigh… a place where no woman wants or needs an extra “pocket.” In addition, if I bump into it or lay on it just right it still produces some discomfort. I read that it can take months (as in five to six months) to reabsorb. I’m not holding my breath though. I’m anticipating having to wear this blob for the rest of my life.
I’m glad to read that yours reabsorbed rapidly without any issue.
The hematoma is about 80% reabsorbed 3 weeks later, but the illiac crest is sometimes sensitive to touch and I get an occasional burning sensation when I go up a lot of steps…??? any thoughts???
I also have a giant hematoma on my hip, came off my mountain bike. 45 years ago I had the same problem after getting upended in a football match, I bled everywhere, the surgeon drained it, took a lot of blood out. This time it is worse, solid, black blue and yellow everywhere, the doctors told me that they do not drain them anymore. Three weeks later it is still solid and burns like mad, I have been given cream to rub on it. i cannot lay on that side, I am 78 so it may take longer to heal.
My wife recently suffered a bad fall on her bike training for IMMT. She has a big left hip Hematoma, bruised left forearm, shoulder and leg (quad). How soon before you could run, bike and put a wetsuit on? Any feedback you have would be greatly appeciated. Dave
i cannot lay on that side, I am 78 so it may take longer to heal.