Quad injury please help!!

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dragon1

0
I really hurt my quad yesterday while trying to start the lawn mower. I don't know how I did it but when I yanked the pully It felt like I ripped a muscle in two. It is still messed up today. I couldn't run so i walked 20 minutes and then did my ellipticle machine for 20 minutes. Should I keep trying to work out or should I wait for it to completely heal? I hate to quit I just got started on my new HIIT program. What would you do besides seeing a Dr. That is not an option for me right now. No insurance. Please help, I do not know what to do.:confused:
 
Sounds like a muscle strain...does it hurt when you stretch the quad? Also hurts when you contract it? I know it's hard to stop, but the first 1-3 days post-injury are an important part of the healing process and you need complete rest for these 3 days...you can ice the area...the best way is to fill up a styrofoam glass with water and freeze it. Once frozen, you use it to perform ice massage on the tender area...go in corcles. Ice massage, as opposed to ice pack application, helps the cold penetrate better. One more suggestion, place the quad in a slight (outside of your painful range) stretch when applying the ice massage.

After the 3 days have passed, begin with some light stretching (warm up beforehand, of course). And let me know how that goes, I will give gladly give you some more guidelines at that point.

Good luck! ;)
 
Yes it hurts when I stretch. It almost feels like I could go into a charlie horse. I have been using Biofreeze, but I will try icing it. I did work out the day after but I took today off and I will take the next two days off. Thank you for the help. I will keep you posted.
 
this may sound a little backwards...but you quads might be overstress because of tight hamstrings + low back...you might try stretching those areas out as well....that way you can get some relief to the quads.

also, massaging the injured area helps! trying to break up the inflamation w/ new bloddflow...if extreme ice is always a good friend. :)
 
I wouldn't advocate massage in the acute stage, but you might give it a try later on. What's today, Day 4? Let me know how you are progressing...do you still have pain and limited range of motion? You should begin some strengthening exercises. Try these:

Quad Sets: sitting down with the knee fully extended, contract the quad to press the back of the knee into the floor (these are kind of hard to explain in words only, bear with me ;)....)

Straight Leg Raises: lying on the floor with the knee extended, lift your leg up (keeping knee extended) to a ~45degree angle, hold and lower.

You can do these in sets of 12...rest 60 seconds between sets. Make sure you have no exacerbation of pain when doing the exercises. Stick to just the quad sets if you still have pain and tightness.

I hope this will help you...it is difficult to give someone therapeutic advice when you have not seen them, though. I failed to ask if you had any swelling or bruising in the area of pain? This would indicate a more severe strain. Being that you walked for 20minutes on Day 2, I assumed it was just a mild strain.

Until you have absolutely no pain, you can wear a compression bandage (elastic bandage, usually dark beige colored, that you can buy at most pharmacies)...

Hope you are doing well :)
 
I do have a tight low back and due to a horseback riding injury, scar tissue in one of my hamstring that has killed my flexability in that area. The same leg as the quad injury so that makes sense. I did not have swelling and it does seem to be getting better. I will get a bandage when I am out today. Thank you both for all the help.
 
yeah, you are probably right on the massage...i too would wait for the inflamation to go down...i am was not imagining the area overly inflamed.

interesting on the pre-existing injury though...it would make sense to me that the sudden muscle strain and previous hist are related.

good luck.
 
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