Hey! I am a 23yo male, 6’7, 242lbs, with a backgorund of several years of lifting weights. I also quitted smoking 4 months ago, after smoking for 8 years (a very wise decision if you ask me haha). Almost one month ago, I got my left knee injured while running. (I have a topic in the injury/rehab forum about it) So far so good, the knee got better( got an MRI for it and it turned out to be normal, just some kind of impingement between a fat pad in the front of the knee and my quad tendon), but I felt a annoying pain in my lateral aspect of my calf that did not seem to go away and also caused weakness in my left calf. Also, it made me limp so I went to an ortho with my knee MRI too. He said that my knee is ok and took a look at my calves. He said that the left one is a bit swollen so the diagnosis is “suspicion for thrombophlebithis”. He also reffered me to a Doppler test for tomorrow. He gave me a treatment( I don’t know if medications from Romania are the same as the ones from US, but I’ll try to give you their names) which consist of:
- ALAnerv which is a suplement of vitamins, selenium, alpha-lipolic acid etc. for 10 days
-ARCOXIA which is a nSAID for 10 days
- OMEZ which is omeprazol to protect my stomach from nSAID use for 10 days
- Clexane which is enoxaparin (0.8 ml) which I inject in my stomach one time per day for 14 days.
What do you think about this?Given my young age and healthy lifestyle seems very unlikely to have this condition. The only risk factor that would exist for me is familiar history. A couple of my familiy members had it. Also, my ortho said that lifting weights could cause this condition, which again, seems very unilkely to me. Also, he said that during the treatment I should rest and not lift weights.
This pain in my calf came a few days after my injury, which seems to me that it is linked to it. Maybe, because I adopted a “pain free walking gate”, my calf muscles were not adapted to it so I started to experience symptoms.
I will wait until tomorrow to get the Dopler test and the ortho said I have to get a consult to a cardiologist too, so I will do that too.
What would you recommend in this situation?
Hi,
It is difficult to say much here given that you don’t actually have a confirmed diagnosis of thrombophlebitis. Typically, superficial vein thrombophlebitis can be managed conservatively with time and NSAIDs as needed, and does not require rest or avoidance of exercise/lifting weights. It does not necessarily require the use of anticoagulants like enoxaparin in all situations, although there are individual circumstances where this may be used – although again, I would typically only use this if and once I had a confirmed diagnosis, not just a general “suspicion”. I see no reason or benefit for the “ALAnerv” based on what you’ve described here so far.
Hi Austin! Thank you for your fast answer! Tomorrow I will get the Dopler test and see what it is. Hope it is okay to give you an update here of what I will find out tomorrow.
I did the Doppler test and it turned out to be normal, no blood clots or other abnormalities found. I will cease the anticoagullant treatment, but I will continue to use NSAIDs to ease my pain in my tibia. I observed that it is a painful point on my bony portion in front of my tibia which hurts when I touch it. Also, when I lay on my side and try to externaly rotate my left hip, I feel pain in the medial aspect of my knee and on that point on my tibia. Also, a week ago I did an MRI of my knee and it turned out to be ok (even though I know abnormalities do not correlate very well with symptoms, I did it just to be sure). Currently, I will try to walk normal, even if it causes a bit of pain, and because I am currently using Hypertrphy I, 2x per week I will do 4-6 sets of calf raises ( 2-3 standing and 2-3 seated) because I red the article of Derek Miles which explains why calf training may be beneficial, and istead of running as a GPP form of training, I will use a stationary bike that was brought in the gym a few days ago. What do you think about this approach? Would u recommend further investigations?
Also, I noticed a loss of strength and balance in my left calf.
That sounds like a reasonable plan for now. I can’t say regarding further investigations without examining you myself, but if your symptoms persist / fail to improve, a consultation with our rehab team may be helpful.
Thank you very much for your answers! Yesterday, I tried walking as normal as I could, and the calf feeling better. Still some lingering pain below my knee cap, but it’s not something debilitating, maybe a 3-4/10. And this is when I walk, but when squatting and deadlifting, no pain at all.