Have I permanently broken myself?

andraste

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OK, I figured that there will be enough people who have fallen off and injured themselves here that someone will be able to answer my question. I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

About a month ago I had a spectacular fall off my horse and landed on my arm. Within minutes it was very swollen and discoloured but clearly not broken. A few days later and I had the mother and father of all bruises except for the very centre where the pain was worst - there was no discolouration or bruising at all on that patch. The skin over that patch was entirely numb.

Fast forward to today. The bruise is long gone but the skin remains utterly numb. A fairly big patch of my arm feels like it's been subject to some sort of alien skin transplant! It's also still very sore if I put weight on that part of my arm or knock it by accident.

So, will the feeling in my arm ever come back? Can damaged nerves regrow or will I always have this weird dead bit on my arm?

Bucket loads of whatever fattening/inebriating substance you like for reading this. :)
 
You really need to go see your doc to have physiotherapy on it. It does sound like a traped nerve. It can take along time to heal. Hope you get it sorted and good luck xx
 
Hi,

poor you! have you had it checked out by a doctor? you may not regain the feeling if the nerves are badly damaged. i had a hematoma (definately not the right spelling but v.tired!) anyway, had a large blood clot in my leg, but the hematome is a blood clot between the muscle, it put pressure on the soft tissue just under the skin and now i have a numb patch. that was around 5 years ago and it's still numb.

i'd definately get it checked out

:(
 
Go to GP who'll possibly refer you for a scan or physio, sounds like something nervey... will be permanent if you don't get it sorted though.... ;)
 
If your horse had a similar problem I bet you would have called the vet in a heartbeat. Please look after yourself at least as well and go to see your doctor. We only have one body...
 
Ok so I am totally broken - fall 2yrs ago still limited feeling in my lower back and top of my leg, when I touch it its either no feeling or sensation is 'weird'

2 weeks ago had another simple fall, fell on my arm and back - arm is still numb and my upper back has numb spots!!

Both of these falls, no bones broken just bad bruising, about 10 yrs ago I was dragged and had damaged nerves in my leg - took about 6 weeks to regain full sensation.

Just give it time...........
 
No I didn't get it checked. It wasn't broken and I always feel like I'm wasting the doctor's time if it's not an emergency. :o

Thats just what I'm like!

Learning now I'm 40, that you get artiritus and lumps and bumps etc later in life if you don't.

Even if you don't see a doctor, book yourself an appointment with a sports physio. They're very good. I saw one with a haematoma this year and they were much better than the hospital were (ok the hospital were dealing with my dislocated shoulder to be fair, but I asked their opinion on the haematoma on my leg and didn't get much help!).
 
I am not a doctor but I would think that if it was only a month ago it is still early days for an injury of that type and severity. If you have damaged some nerves they take ages to recover. If you are worried about it you could go to your GP or see if your local hospital has a minor injuries dept?
I got kicked in the leg by a horse about 4 years ago and to this day there is a numb patch right in the centre of where the bruise was.
My Doctor said that if/when I have another huge bruise from a kick or similar I should get it looked at by the hospital as they might decide to drain it.
 
You really need to get it looked at. I have a huge bruise on my shin from last summer that is still there a year later - it feels like that under it all wierd. docs say im a medical mystery and its not right but dont know what it is! hey ho!
 
I have a very similar injury!

I got trampled 12 wks ago. I have a palm of hand sized solid lump on my leg. It's completely numb.

I went to the docs and she said its a heamatoma under the skin and will go down. She said the numbness is one of two things - either the solid mass is pressing on a nerve and when the swelling goes down the feeling will come back. Or the nerves are damaged and may take time/wont recover.

I squashed my coccyx about 8 years ago, and i still have a numb patch on my bum :(
 
Sounds very similar to something that happened to me. I had a heavy fall and landed on my hip, the next day my lower back was swollen like a balloon and I had no feeling in the skin. With an injury like that where there is a large amount of swelling, the pressure of the swelling (haematoma) presses on the surrounding nerves and limits their function. The feeling in my lower back is still not back to normal and my fall happened about 7 weeks ago now.
I hope you're on the mend soon and would advise going to the doctors for a checkup.
 
OK, I figured that there will be enough people who have fallen off and injured themselves here that someone will be able to answer my question. I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

About a month ago I had a spectacular fall off my horse and landed on my arm. Within minutes it was very swollen and discoloured but clearly not broken. A few days later and I had the mother and father of all bruises except for the very centre where the pain was worst - there was no discolouration or bruising at all on that patch. The skin over that patch was entirely numb.

Fast forward to today. The bruise is long gone but the skin remains utterly numb. A fairly big patch of my arm feels like it's been subject to some sort of alien skin transplant! It's also still very sore if I put weight on that part of my arm or knock it by accident.

So, will the feeling in my arm ever come back? Can damaged nerves regrow or will I always have this weird dead bit on my arm?

Bucket loads of whatever fattening/inebriating substance you like for reading this. :)

Yes - have had similar injuries - it will get better, but will take time.
 
I have a palm of hand sized solid lump on my leg. It's completely numb.

I went to the docs and she said its a heamatoma under the skin and will go down. She said the numbness is one of two things - either the solid mass is pressing on a nerve and when the swelling goes down the feeling will come back. Or the nerves are damaged and may take time/wont recover. (

Thats what my physio said. She described it as a lump of dried, clotted blood under the skin, like chewing gum. She had me massaging it with oil daily, and icing it (sitting on a bag of peas twenty mins twice a day - hurt like heck for some reason!). It went down a lot.
 
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