Question
Hey im a mixed martial artist and two weeks ago during my pro amatuer fight I received a hard knee from my opponent that landed on my thigh. After I won the fight the pain was very painful on my thigh. The next day I could not bend my right leg to a 90 degree angle nor was I able to straighten my leg fully with out encountering pain. During the two weeks I ran 3 miles almost every other day and trained Brazilian Jiujitsu everyday. I thought this was helping because the pain was going away but during a training session a was kneed (mildly) on the thigh and the pain came back twice as painful than the first time. Still after the two weeks passed I still cant bend my right leg to a 90 degree angle fully nor fully straighten it. After doing some research on Google I think that its my rectus femoris tendon that was injured. Can you confirm that and if it my rectus femoris tendon that was injured what do you subscribe to treat the injured area? -Thank You

Answer

Hanna Somatic Educatio Hi, Josh,

What you have described is called Trauma Reflex.  It's a neuromuscular protective reaction to pain and/or injury, in which muscles related to the injured/hurt area contract to protect it.  Muscles in contraction that way can be very tight and sore,and that would account for your inability to bend your knee past 90 degrees.

An injury to the tendon is possible, but not necessarily so, or even likely, since the tendons of the femoris rectus (surface thigh muscle) are at the knee and hip bone, not the center of the thigh.  The pain of the blow would have been sufficient to trigger Trauma Reflex, which can last for some time, with or without soft-tissue injury.  The presence of Trauma Reflex also makes a person more susceptible to further injury.

To alleviate the condition, a brief course of muscle-control training would ease the reflexive muscle pull.  May I direct you to my write-ups, below:

http://somatics.com/recovery_from_injury.htm
http://somatics.com

I can recommend a source for the somatic exercise for self-care, if you wish.

regard,
Lawrence Gold