Fell off yesterday - severe contusion of the outer calf muscle

[lindsay1993]

So as title suggests, I came a cropper off my horse yesterday. She was slightly more exuberant than usual as I think a winter of being in a barn has finally taken its toll on her. She worked well for about 20 minutes, her usual cheeky forward self. We were cantering the bottom end of the arena when she put in an almighty buck. I lost balance spectacularly, tried to cling on to her and saw the fence looming at my face so just let go in hope of not slamming my body into the fence. I landed with my left leg under me and thought she had stood on me the pain was so bad. It took me ages to stand up and hobble to the other end of the arena and along to the stables. Horse was seen to by someone else. I could hardly get my boot off and when I did my lower leg was already black. I iced it and hobbled about. When I got home I couldn't put weight on it and did some googling - bad idea!! Anyway, took a late night trip to A&E and I haven't broke anything!! Yay! Doctor said to strap it up, take ibuprofen and wait for it to heal. Leg is swollen on the outer side, red, very hot to touch and feels a bit lumpy in places. I have crutches and this morning it seems less painful, I can bear a little weight. Doctor gave me no scale of how long this may take to heal, so now I'm worrying I won't be able to ride for a while. Horse does not do well with no exercise! She will be lunged and loose schooled by her owners while I'm healing. Anyone had a similar injury? How long did it take to heal?

 

[shadowboy]

Ages! I did this just before Christmas. Took me a lot of private physio sessions and 4 weeks before I could walk without a stick! You really must get a good physio as each treatment I had improved me by 15% and really helped disperse the haematoma. I still have a very small lump haematoma but it doesn't hurt now and I think one more physio and it will be gone 😀

 

[lindsay1993]

Ages! I did this just before Christmas. Took me a lot of private physio sessions and 4 weeks before I could walk without a stick! You really must get a good physio as each treatment I had improved me by 15% and really helped disperse the haematoma. I still have a very small lump haematoma but it doesn't hurt now and I think one more physio and it will be gone ��

Oh god! They didn't mention anything about physio! I think I'll go and see my GP instead. The nurse told me I should have came in earlier during 'normal' opening times?! I thought A&E was 24hrs??? I explained that it's the start of lambing and with a small child to looks after it was difficult, hence why I came in at midnight. We had to get a family member to come and baby-sit while I was at the hospital. The lump I have is higher than where the pain and swelling is, about 3/4 up the outer of my calf.