Maybe someone out there has had this problem. I've isolated an injury to my thigh to a sprint out after the dog. She's a pup. It's getting hard to call her a pup at ten months when she weights in at about 80 lean-ish pounds. She was headed a little too ambitiously toward a chicken. I like to nip these things in the bud with as much intensity as possible, earlier rather than later. She's a good dog but I can't tolerate her eating my egg makers..

There were a few variables in play when I hurt myself. First was that I had just completed a heavy six week stint of strength building. Second was I had a charlie horse in very near to the same spot as this injury from wrestling with my daughter a couple of days earlier. Third was the rapid and intense sprinting out that I did to catch the dog.

The injury isn't getting better like it would if it was a small thing. Whatever is damaged is deep into the big muscle group in my mid front thigh. The quads are a fairly big chunk of meat and I'm a bit surprised it's just not going away and healing up more quickly than it is.

It's not that the injury hurts. It's just weak and mildly painful if stressed. I am pretty sure that if I sprinted out hard again it would get much worse. It feels as if muscle would break. Maybe it already did.

I'm interested in healing this up to be stronger than before but aside from stretching and slowly building up the muscles surrounding my left quadricepses dose anyone have any idea what I may have done to it by sprinting out hard on a tired muscle? I'd love to hear if anyone has had this happen to them.

I just got back from a short break on the west coast with my youngest brother. He said that he had done the same type of thing years ago and now remains vulnerable to this type of injury. The topic came up when we were throwing around a football and hitting each other with running passes and such. I was careful not to put too high a demand on the left leg and it was better off for the experience but after ten days or so it's still really weak and I can feel that it is damaged.

I'll phone the sports medicine clinic in the city tomorrow and see if I can get in to see someone but I expect to have to wait. If you all have any guesses about how I might speed the healing please let me know.

It's good to be home. Although my little brother has a lot of toys and I live like a pauper I wouldn't want his headaches.. < g >

I went without a camera figuring my bro would have his digital but he'd sent it off with an employee from work to do some work with it then head off to San Fransisco for the week-end. BAH!

I'll ask you all to take my word for it that the trout were very salmon pink and very very tasty. hehe It was nice to be out on the water in such a warm climate. The weather in Victoria was fabulous the whole time I was there.

Cheers! Ian.

LOL I'm such a geek... I read the Title "quad damage" and was thinking you needed help with a game of Quake.... :D

Hang on.. does Quake qualify as exercise? eheh This may be very helpful in reducing injury.. < vbg >

Ian,

Could be a tear. In the muscle or even possible the connective tissue binding it to the bone. I have seen people tear pectoral muscles benching too much without a warm up. Not pretty and fairly painful. It may be, in your case, a partial tear. Or a tear to some of the muscles involved. Quadraceps breaks down with Quad for a prefix. Meaning four. A group of four fairly large muscles used in extending the legs. You may have a tear affecting one or more. Definitely take it easy on it. Definitely see a doctor.

Before you panic and worry too much though keep in mind that there are a variety of soft tissue injuries that can occur to stressed muscle and tendon. These injuries can take quite a bit of time to heal. You may have nothing terribly serious to worry about. Just be cautious and pay heed to you body's cues and definitely see that doctor.

Thanks E-boy. I'll get on to some follow up with a professional today.
Cheers! Ian

Saw the Dr. today. This morning three large yellow bruises showed up on my middle inner thigh. Just in time to show off to the Dr. < g > It took about ten days for the hemorrhage to show up on the surface. I knew it was a weird injury.

Physio starts in a couple of weeks and other than that the Dr. liked what I had done so far and said to keep it up.

The injury happened deep in the muscle way down by the bone. I hope it isn't too tough to hit well for strength exercises. I've pretty well got the stretching on target as well as the surrounding area.

I just reviewed the books I have on sports medicine and stretching. Bringing this thing back to a place where I'm confident about sprinting out hard again won't be easy or quick I don't think. I'm just not eighteen any more.. < g >

Cheers! Ian.

Well, good that it's not a tear then, but that close to the bone it could have been. Maybe what happened was that, the charlie horse your little missy gave you left a rather large bit of Deep damage in there and your sudden sprint detached it, or made a rather nasty bruising rebleed.

Of course your not 18 anymore! Your not an obnoxious know everything about the world there is to know already idiot who drives to fast, and makes far too many snap judgments by thinking with the wrong brain.

No offense to the younger crowd, and I can't speak for Ian, but when I look back at eighteen, I was pretty much an idiot. A nice idiot to be sure. An idiot nonetheless though. Part of being a hormone soaked male I think.

Then again, the matter is still very much open as to whether or not I'm an idiot now... ;-) I am myself voting idiot. I wouldn't be a very good big dumb swede with out the "dumb" now would I?

Dan your analysis of the charlie horse adding to the grief rings true. I expect it masked the pain as well and helped
< insert 45 year old idiot factor >
me miss the fact that there were two elements to the equation at least. I expect there is some torn muscle though. It must have been deep and it must have been somewhat more than a minor tear to show this much colour this late in the game in bruising.

I'm really anxious to mend it up well. I like to sprint out. It's all I have left that can suprise a young in' when the football is thrown... heh The dog however has me beat hands down apparently.

Tomorrow will be an active day. I'll be stretching it out again tonight but I have no clue as to how much and when to start thinking about building it back up.

I know from past experience that the stretching is really important so as not to end up healing the injury short but instead to follow the pain back as it heals up so that you end up with a nice long muscle again. I think this is the mistake my youngest brother must have made. Now that the tissue is healed up and short of it's original length it is now easier to injure just because it is shorter. I'm guessing of course but I've convinced my idiot < no swede to blame > self that it's a rational argument.

I'm really happy that I don't have to travel to the city for a fix. I was reading up a bit this afternoon and if it had ruptured well and truly I'd have been in for surgery.. yuk.. cluck.. cluck..
< insert chicken hearted, lily livered.. etc. etc.. >

My leg still feels plenty weird but it's not causing me any pain in anthing I want to do just a bit of weakness and the overwhelming impression that if I don't pay attention I could rip it apart without much farther effort.

Dan.. you can fool most of the people most of the time... maybe.. but here you have blown your cover pretty well. The dumb/idiot cover is thin at best. Swede maybe but hey.. they have one of the highest standards of living on the planet.. they can't be all dumb! ehh take it easy.
Cheers! Ian.

HEMMORRHAGE?!? Eeeeeeeeeeeek! You boys scare me. Are you doing better?

I wan to talk about the supposed fish

eh !!!!!!!!!!

No camera

and this wasn't just an ADD mind spin now was it

I know some of my suckers that I've caught here were monsterous fish till I got them out of the river

No pictures huh

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!!!!!!

What a dog Garry... ;P~~~~

I thought the commentary about the flesh tone would have been enough to convince you there were indeed fish.. but no.. what a pal... rofl... < vbg >

I did not take a camera with me on that trip at all. Can you believe it? I was completely and totally self indulgent. I ate when I was hungry and pretty well took what I wanted out of the time. It was glorious I tell you.

However.. now the gauntlet has been thrown.. and the games begin.. ;P~~~

Don't forget to click on the images if you want a closer look.
http://ca.geocities.com/itschaotic/garry/

Here is a little reminder that the camera has been known to come with.. once in a while.. lol

You gave me a good chuckle tonight bud.. gracias.
Cheers! Ian

MRB I have displayed a most unusual amount and quality of attention to the quad repair. It's working out wonderfully. I have not tested it yet but tomorrow I think I'll try my hand at some horseback riding and see how that goes. That should target those muscles pretty well right on the button. Aiming specifically at the inner quad. Hope I don't kill it.

I'm using leg weights and lots of stretching to heal it up long and agile.

It's so deep though it's a weird one. It is really hard to get a good stretch on the damaged area. I'm being a human pretzel trying to hit it properly where I can be relaxed for extend periods. It's a big chunk of meat! It isn't easy to get a good stretch I find. Just need more practise I'm sure.

Cheers! Ian

see a physiotherapist if you can.

i had a muscle "strain" once. it took years before someone finally told me that that meant "muscle tear" or "muscle rupture".

you do not say the exact location, so i have no ideas. this could be anywhere from your kneetop to your TFL, or iliopsoas, etc.

Emma

After I wrote a whole thing, I realized the original post is from 2004!! Oh well....this physio will wait to help another injured ADDer!! ;)

Emma you did catch the time stamp on this no? :D I ran 80 miles last month.
Hugs to you for looking after me.
Cheers!