# Localized swelling at impact site (hip) appeared week later...



## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

First off, I do have an appointment with a physician in a week (earliest available), but wondered if someone could proffer an explanation for my issue in the meantime. I crashed hard in a race two weeks ago, smashing down on my hip and shoulder. Sat stunned for a minute, then got up and rode a lap before dropping. Requisite and expected road rash and bruising, but a week later I developed a fist sized soft lump on my hip with no obvious discoloration. It formerly was not sensitive to the touch, but now is. The joints all feel fine, but as the rest of my scrapes and bruises are resolving, this bizarre "mass" is hanging on. I'm noticeably asymmetric in the mirror, with my regular boney left side hip and a womanly rounded hip on the right side. I've crashed and banged myself in various ways over the years (lots of standard road rash and bruises, broken scaphoid, separated rib cartilage) but this one's new to me -- any ideas? Thanks


----------



## sooshee (Jun 16, 2012)

I had the same thing happen to me when I hairline cracked the tip of one of my elbows. Never got an official explanation, but my various nursing knowledge led me to believe it was just a lot of fluid buildup and an inflammatory process going on. My elbow was a good 2 or 3" bigger than the other. It slowly resolved over a few weeks. Super sensitive and the lump/mass wasn't bruised itself, though the surrounding area on my arm was. I was prescribed naproxen ('script strength Aleve, essentially) and it helped with the tenderness.

I'm curious to see what your doctor says!


----------



## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

If anyone cares, here's how my swelling resolved and the diagnosis. Recap: swelling started a week after accident, lasted about 10 days and then rapidly resided, no significant pain associated with the site. Physician (good sports doc with lots of cycling experience, including team doc for domestic professional team) was confident it was due to having "separated my skin from underlying tissue due to shear forces" as I slid across the ground on the wreck. So basically there was a pocket for fluid to seep into and the body "abhors a vacuum". As it heals, the fluid is reabsorbed. She said it was common and nothing to worry about -- she's seen some big ones in her time. Despite crashing any number of times over the past 35 years of serious cycling, this is one that was new to me. Just FYI...


----------



## TheWeatherman (Jun 24, 2012)

I have the same thing right now, ventral surface just proximal to my knee. It comes and goes a bit depending on whether I'm walking, sitting, etc. Everything has checked out fine at the hospital, and there's no real pain. The only problem is that the fluid buildup prevents me from fully flexing my knee: I have to gradually flex it to let the fluid disperse, otherwise it just puts too much pressure on the joint.


----------



## sooshee (Jun 16, 2012)

PeT said:


> If anyone cares, here's how my swelling resolved and the diagnosis. Recap: swelling started a week after accident, lasted about 10 days and then rapidly resided, no significant pain associated with the site. Physician (good sports doc with lots of cycling experience, including team doc for domestic professional team) was confident it was due to having "separated my skin from underlying tissue due to shear forces" as I slid across the ground on the wreck. So basically there was a pocket for fluid to seep into and the body "abhors a vacuum". As it heals, the fluid is reabsorbed. She said it was common and nothing to worry about -- she's seen some big ones in her time. Despite crashing any number of times over the past 35 years of serious cycling, this is one that was new to me. Just FYI...


thanks for the update! Makes sense why it happens, but kind of makes me shudder! Skin shearing away, yuck!


----------



## lynnhughes67 (May 11, 2014)

I have a similar problem right now. Crashed heavily two weeks ago. Hip ballooned about 3 hours later. Bruising eventually reached my toes after about 10 days. Bruising is disappearing however the hip is still very swollen and the flesh is hard hard. No real sign of reduction. Still painful and if not mobile for a while it burns like fire when I start to move. Naproxen doesn't appear to be doing much. All ideas welcome !


----------



## faztcobra (Sep 2, 2007)

lynnhughes67 said:


> I have a similar problem right now. Crashed heavily two weeks ago. Hip ballooned about 3 hours later. Bruising eventually reached my toes after about 10 days. Bruising is disappearing however the hip is still very swollen and the flesh is hard hard. No real sign of reduction. Still painful and if not mobile for a while it burns like fire when I start to move. Naproxen doesn't appear to be doing much. All ideas welcome !


did you ever solve this? I wrecked 9 days ago. Was in a race and came down hard on my hip. X-rays came back negative and bruising is going away but it's still swelling on my side just above my hip bone. It's not generally painful unless I cough or sneeze. I can feel a bit of a hard mass under my skin. I've iced it quite a bit and nothing happens. I think I'm going to the doc tomorrow to have them look again.


----------



## lynnhughes67 (May 11, 2014)

*On the mend....slowly*



faztcobra said:


> did you ever solve this? I wrecked 9 days ago. Was in a race and came down hard on my hip. X-rays came back negative and bruising is going away but it's still swelling on my side just above my hip bone. It's not generally painful unless I cough or sneeze. I can feel a bit of a hard mass under my skin. I've iced it quite a bit and nothing happens. I think I'm going to the doc tomorrow to have them look again.


Over 5 weeks now , swelling down by about 75%. Still some contact numbness around the hip and deeper seated burning sensation in the soft tissue. Still some obvious 'hard' areas. Keeping mobile has helped but take a lot of care.... Achilles now inflamed either as a result of the bruising or shielding the hip.

Physiotherapist helps though she says another few weeks to go

No magic answers,,time passing seems to help!


----------



## mountinbiker5 (Jun 6, 2014)

*Advice on training with the Swelling?*

to *Everyone *in this forum. I too recently went down hard on my left hip on the road and swelling began today (4 days after). My physician wants me to rest it but has clarified it is not limiting my function or anything serious more than tenderness and fluid mass. This forum has given me valuable insight into the nature of this swelling and it resolving itself.

I guess the only thing I am left to wonder is *how active were *all of you while the mass/fluid/hardness was decreasing?

Namely, were your 10 days or so of decreasing swelling spent sedentary, non-exercise, while training, etc. ?

I am a category 1 road cyclist this time of year and cannot sit around and wait for this to resolve itself. If any of you have found that continuing to train is a nuisance but does not make the hip swelling worse I would like to do so.

Thank you.


----------



## Ptor (Jan 29, 2004)

mountinbiker5 said:


> Namely, were your 10 days or so of decreasing swelling spent sedentary, non-exercise, while training, etc. ?


I trained through it. I was sore from the impact, but the swelling didn't get in the way of riding -- so I did! Good luck healing your injury and I hope your road season goes well.


----------



## lynnhughes67 (May 11, 2014)

I managed light exercise throughout the period. Most significant constraint on the exercise was very painful ribs (another result of the crash). Low / no impact exercise did appear to relieve the stiffness in the hip, swimming also provided relief.

One caution is against avoiding secondary injuries. In my case a huge amount of the swelling was due to the internal bleeding. The pooling blood, which took 6 to 10 days to travel as far as my toes, appears to be quite an irritant to other tissues - causes swelling and stiffness in areas such as the Achilles - very prone to injury in this state


----------



## tribot (Nov 1, 2016)

*Huge bump on hip*



faztcobra said:


> did you ever solve this? I wrecked 9 days ago. Was in a race and came down hard on my hip. X-rays came back negative and bruising is going away but it's still swelling on my side just above my hip bone. It's not generally painful unless I cough or sneeze. I can feel a bit of a hard mass under my skin. I've iced it quite a bit and nothing happens. I think I'm going to the doc tomorrow to have them look again.


Hello,I-have-a-similar-issue.Crashed-my-bike-16-days-ago.I-broke-my-scapula-which-is-healing-well.A-few-hours-after-the-carash-a-huge-bump-formed-on-my-hip-and-eventually-a-bruise-from-my-hip-to-my-knee-formed.Bruising-is-70%-better,but-the-bump-is-not.It-is-nearly-the-size-of-a-clenched-fist.Have-been-trying-to-do-light-exercise;elliptical-and-spin-bike.However-not-sure-if-this-may-be-part-of-the-reason-the-bump-is-not-healing.Any-advice-would-be-very-appreciated.Thanks!


----------



## ChipperD (Apr 10, 2021)

Ptor said:


> First off, I do have an appointment with a physician in a week (earliest available), but wondered if someone could proffer an explanation for my issue in the meantime. I crashed hard in a race two weeks ago, smashing down on my hip and shoulder. Sat stunned for a minute, then got up and rode a lap before dropping. Requisite and expected road rash and bruising, but a week later I developed a fist sized soft lump on my hip with no obvious discoloration. It formerly was not sensitive to the touch, but now is. The joints all feel fine, but as the rest of my scrapes and bruises are resolving, this bizarre "mass" is hanging on. I'm noticeably asymmetric in the mirror, with my regular boney left side hip and a womanly rounded hip on the right side. I've crashed and banged myself in various ways over the years (lots of standard road rash and bruises, broken scaphoid, separated rib cartilage) but this one's new to me -- any ideas? Thanks


Nothing like jumping on a WAY OLD thread but...

I'd Googled symptoms I'm experiencing relating to a 4-week old cycling mishap I encountered, one very similar to that of the original poster. In my case, it's a fist-sized, (what feels to be) fluid filled sack just below my right hip bone. The likely shearing of internal tissues that was mentioned in a subsequent response along with mention of its eventual overall resolution was reassuring. Said it was a common injury amongst cyclist and should be okay after some time. Thanks for keeping hope alive.


----------

