Deadlift bruise?

Have you ever had a bruise right below the knee from deadlifting? It’s like the “bumpy” part right below the knee cap. Specifically on my left. I can’t pinpoint when exactly it started causing problems but I suspect it might have been the 3 weeks of RDLs/leg press that were programmed and I chose the former, and on the negative I may have been “bumping” against the barbell. I also have irritated it recently by clumsily brushing against a 55 plate (ouch) maybe 2 weeks ago.

I also strangely feel it be tender after squats. Any speculation as to what this is and whether it should just go away on its own? It’s been a few weeks now but I can’t imagine not irritating it a little bit on squats and deads (the movements are fine though.

Training on PL2 is great otherwise.

Yep, that’s happened before when I’ve whacked my knee with the bar. It’s possible there’s something else going on, but barring persistent tenderness and swelling, I’d wear some tall socks and carry on. If they’re persistently painful, swollen, etc., I’d work these up further.

Thanks for the response! Nothing is visibily wrong such any swelling or discoloration, and deadlifts went fine yesterday sans a small bump on two sets, but didn’t impact my weight but just a wee bit painful. Though when I moved to exercise 3 squats it was a little painful at the bottom of squat but got better as I got more warm ups in. Seems like in general just sticking my knee out over my toes irritates the “bruise”, just not so much yet to cause me to alter movements just yet. Part of what I think exacerbates it though was I recently switched to high bar for this cycle so my knees going just a bit more farther might be playing a role in the tenderness.

I Take it back I did swell a little after squats today. Both knees included for comparison. Will icing help reduce swelling?

Hmm, yea that doesn’t look like what I was expecting. I unfortunately can’t comment too much on it from here, but if it continues to bother you, gets worse, and/or you’re worried about it, I think it’s reasonable to get it evaluated.

Ice, or the acronym RICE, is not my preferred approach. PEACE and LOVE has supplanted that in many acronym-heavy circles. It’s not perfect, but…

Protection from activities that significantly increase pain.
Elevate affected limb higher than heart when resting (meh)
Avoid anti-inflammatories (meh, can be useful in some for maintaining activity levels short term)
Compression
Education to avoid unnecessary treatments and tests.

Load the tissue for tolerable activities
Optimism regarding recovery
Vascularization via maintaining/participating in conditioning
Exercise to maintain/improve fitness

If ice helps you symptomatically for a few days, I have little issue with that. I have similar feelings towards medication in this setting. My overall concern is low given that yo’ve been able to maintain training loads as best as I can tell. That said, I would not expect a typical bruise from minor trauma in the gym to last very long. If it persists, I’d want to dig deeper.

If you’re doing some training modification and rehab stuff already and it’s not improving, check this article out and see if there are any opportunities for improvement: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/lifting-rehab-mistakes/

Understood on hesitancy to speculate and thank you so much for the other tips. I’ll see if it improves over the next two weeks and get evaluated if not. I think it should, because even just have one day of rest from Wednesday really made it feel almost back to normal and squat warm ups were feeling good until the weight gets heavier. Just gotta watch I don’t bump it accidentally which seeks to be the most “traumatic” / seems to be the main irritant

Still tender. If I squat in sleeves it doesn’t really bother me. But any type of slight contact seems to make it flare up. For example, I gently brushed on Tuesday deadlifts and got a little irritated. Today I accidentally hit it with a dip belt chain and that really flipping hurt.

it seems like my symptoms match this…other than I’m not a child…seems like it should go away on its own but it’s taking it’s sweet time doing so.

Osgood-Schlatter Disease | Orthopedics & Sports Medicine.