Thigh Bruise (?) Recovery
 

35 year old male here in pretty decent physical shape. I ride, run, swim, do pushups, situps, yada yada yada . . .

Well, going around a hairpin turn yesterday I locked up my hydraulic brakes, skidded, and landed with most of my body weight on a round rock. It hit right on the side of my thigh, right in the middle. We were up above 7,000' so I was pretty winded anyway, but when it happened I felt like I was going to pass out. I laid down for a minute, got myself together, and rode another 10 miles. My thigh got sore and stiff when I stopped.

We walked around town after riding and I started getting a limp. Checked it out at the hotel last night and it wasn't bruised (no black, purple, blue skin) but there was a decent swell about the size of a bar of soap, and 1/3 as thick. I've been full on RICE with it and didn't plan on going to the doctor. I can drive fine, but I walk a little bit slower. Squatting to sit on the couch makes me favor one side.

Surely some others have had this happen. Did you stay off it as much as possible? Ice a lot? Slowly start riding? I've thought about going to ride a stationary bike very slowly just to get some leg stretching in. I'm afraid favoring one side will start to throw my hips and back out of whack, too.

Any ideas or suggestions? I don't think there's any danger of further injury, just a matter or speeding up this recovery.

consider going to the doctor, there are some serious underlying bleeding issues that can come up.

Get a big cup of HTFU. Seek some medical help instead of random strangers on the web? Or, motrin, as you said rice, etc.

Seriously get yourself checked out.
Any other advice you get here otherwise is silly

Unless you quickly develop additional different symptoms than you have now you almost certainly have suffered a hematoma. The swelling is blood and fluid. The discoloration will follow days later.

For your reference:

https://www.healthline.com/health/hematoma-leg#causes

Thanks everyone!

I'll continue to ice it, but I've also decided to try diffusinf some lavender at night and rubbing some eucalyptus in in the morning. So far so good; it's really going down well and I can't complain!

lavender and eucalyptus do absolutely nothing but make your injury smell nice. I mean seriously go to a doctor.