Training with a thigh bruise?

ahaile said:

Hi All --
I had the misfortune of getting hit by an SUV on Sunday, but the fortune that it could have been much much worse and I'm just bruised and scratched. I was in the lane signaling a left turn with my arm when a driver, who later said he didn't know what the left turn signal meant, tried to pass me on the left at 50mph. If I had begun my turn a millisecond earlier, he would have gotten me with his bumper. Instead, he just got me with his rear view mirror and wheel well. Like I said, I'm very very lucky.

For both training and psychological reasons, I want to get back on the road as soon as possible. My left hip and thigh are pretty bruised, along with the back of my left arm. I can walk with only a slight limp. Sunday, I had to go up stairs in a right foot together right foot together pattern, but since yesterday I can go up with both feet. I was x-rayed yesterday, and they saw no bone damage. I rode my commuter bike yesterday to run some errands (only about 3 miles), and while it was tight swinging my leg over the bar, once I was on the bike I felt pretty comfortable pedaling.

How soon can I realistically get back to training? Am I going to do harm to my thigh muscles if I don't wait for the bruising to subside completely? I have to admit, there's a part of me that wants to get back on the road NOW ... but if that's going to do some real harm, I can sit tight.

I haven't been able to find much information about bruises and training. If anyone knows more, thanks for your help.
-- Adam

Adam - sorry to hear about that.

I had a bad fall this year and had a huge bruise on my thigh. I got back on the bike in a week but had lost about 30w - went to physio who checked muscel function (mostly glute) and it was drastically reduced (had me stand on one leg at a time and half squat - on the damaged side the knee moved inwards sharply towards other knee and lacked all stability)

I did this exercise for a few weeks while not riding much at all and then had to build back up slowly.

Good luck

I have strained muscles in my thighs and hamstrings which has similar treatment as an impact blow to a muscle group.

The attached link has some good guidelines to follow.

Link

Thanks guys, that's really useful. Doing half-squats like Peter mentioned shows that I'm definitely not at equal strength right now. In fact, any further than half way and I have to grab something to come back up. Looks like it'll be a while longer and I'm just going to have to sit tight (pun intended). I don't want to "train in" an asymmetry.

And last week I was setting personal bests all over the power curve, like I'd hit a new plateau. Well, at least it's the offseason. And there are some great deals out there for my new bike.

Use the ice it really will make a difference right now.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.