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Was in an auto accident week before last and apparently banged the knee pretty good. It subsequently swelled to HUGE proportions within the 2 hours before someone gave me ice for it. Has since gone down mostly. Xrays show nothing broken, went to doc day after and was given a "compression/ice" set of instructions, basically, in trying to get the remaining swelling to drain out on its own.
Was there thursday for the followup and it hadn't gotten better, so he tried to drain it. Blood was already all jello like and therefore he couldn't drain it. I'm on another week of constant compression and some ice, before reevaluating to decide if it needs more …surgical… attention, or if it will go away on its own.
However, now the swelling/fluid gathering in the rest of my leg. I has a cankle, and it's significantly bigger than the other leg/calf/ankle/foot/toes. If I unwrap it and elevate it high (45 or so degrees from my trunk lying down) it does go down some. But then I sit up, move around, etc and it just starts growing again.
I'm mainly asking if this is something I should be worried about and therefore call my doc before my follow-up appt on thursday. He saw some swelling/fluid buildup, but it wasn't this bad when I was in there this past thurs.
Thanks.
ETA:
As far as I know, we're not suspecting soft tissue damage (tendons/ligaments) since none of those hurt or bother me, just the bruising and the hematoma itself.
Well, not to be the bearer of bad news, but if it is full of blood, then it has been bleeding. And if nothing is broken, that usually means ligament damage (ACL and/or PCL). And a fully torn ligament will not hurt.
Swelling is a normal physiological phenomenon. There is higher pressure in the artery than the vein, so at the capillary level, the excess fluid gets pushed out. The lymphatic system is normally efficient at returning this extra fluid by a variety of mechanisms so we don't notice the swelling. However, in the case of injury, your body is sending extra blood to the injury site to send WBC and other things needed for healing. Increased blood flow = increased swelling. If you are not up and moving around per your usual, the lymphatic system has a harder time getting rid of the fluid.
Elevation is a great thing. Especially combined with ice and compression.
What are you doing for compression?
Other things that can help are ankle pumps (at all times).
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It's mostly constantly wrapped in an ace around the knee. Ice is backed off, I ice a couple times a day. I take off the ace to re-wrap and for short intervals to elevate the leg a lot to try to reduce that fluid in the foot/ankle, rest of the time it stays on.
I'm freaked out by the calf and ankle and whatnot that's just huge compared to the other leg… and I don't know how much extra swelling/fluid retention is "normal" in this situation. It looks like the 5or so pounds I put on post crash are all in my leg (and ass). My shoe is as loose as it can be and it is tight. I mean, the actual bump is fine, relatively speaking.
I assume it's mainly normal, I don't have the best of circulation, my mobility is crap so even though I try to move and massage, it's of course not the same.
I didn't want to freak out about it, but I didn't want it to be bad news and not tell my doc and whatnot. It's prolly nothing, I know.
Try wrapping from the foot up. You might need 2 or 3 wraps to do this, but it would help reduce some of the inevitable swelling that occurs due to gravity.
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Life's a Journey ... Enjoy the Ride!
anyway, went today, we're basically gonna wait and see on the hematoma, and they're scheduling a surgery consult for me. All my ABCLs are good it seems. he checked them and whatnot.
thanks julie. (although wrapping with the ace left some WEIRD and nasty patterns on me, heh.) more update in my log later.
maybe you could find some interesting flat-ish objects around the house - or paper doilies - and put them under the wrap so that when you unwrap you'll be really decorative
maybe you could find some interesting flat-ish objects around the house - or paper doilies - and put them under the wrap so that when you unwrap you'll be really decorative
That's taking body art to a whole new level.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
maybe you could find some interesting flat-ish objects around the house - or paper doilies - and put them under the wrap so that when you unwrap you'll be really decorative
And I thought her new obsession with finger puppets was a wild ride. Can't wait to see that one.
Leg/ankle/foot swelling… should I be concerned?
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