Dead leg may be torn muscle
- Related Injuries: Quads & Hamstrings
March 13, 2018
I got a dead leg playing football last night.
Aside from RICE, could you recommend any other treatments please?
Also, could you let me know to what extent should I hold back from doing upper body weight training while my leg is difficult to stand on please?
The Guru responds to Malcolm…
You are well past the 48 hours and so it’s time to start some gentle quads stretching and strength “stuff” – lunges, squats and all the variants in-between are your go to’s.
You can go nuts on anything that is upper limb related, as it really shouldn’t affect your dead leg.
Anything that makes the numbness worse – ease off, and gradually and respectfully start to increase your load. Depending on how “dead” is “dead” you could possibly be playing again this weekend.
Malcolm expresses his concerns:
Thank you for your advice. A few points that I want to add because I am a little worried that it may be a worse injury than just a dead leg.
A more detailed description would be that I am still limping today, my leg is going wobbly if I try to walk normally and it is painful to put my weight on it walking. It is also painful to go from sitting down with a straight leg moving my leg back, by the time I get to about a quarter of the way.
By the time my leg is at 45 degrees have to stop because it is too painful to pull back any further.
What would you say is likely to be the problem?
CUSTOMER
March 13, 2018
Just to make sure we’re talking about the same thing – you’ve taken a blow to your thigh and you’ve got a (very) sore patch on your thigh and possibly a bruise, which may or may not track down your thigh into your knee and calf.
If it is this it’s basically a “torn” muscle not by pulling the ends apart but by compressing it against your thigh bone.
It behaves pretty much like a muscle tear – it’ll not want to be over stretched (as the healing takes place) but needs to be done respectfully – and you feel this when sitting down and you get the wobbles when trying to call up power when straightening your knee as the tissue is damaged and when contracting a muscle you’re pulling the healing tissue apart which’ll cause normal muscle pain inhibition.
If it’s not a simple “dead leg” and you’ve got a lump and an obvious divot in your thigh, then get some compression on it and slowly start to recover – getting some soft tissue therapy may also help speed your recovery and give you an ear to question.
Maybe not footy this weekend!
I think it’s what you think it is.
The Guru
