Strange bruising to calfs
 

Hi all i'm new here and have a bit of an odd health question...

Every time I ride, around two days later the backs of my calfs come up bruised. Ive never fallen, knocked, or had cramps in my legs. The bruising is never painful, but can be huge and be all beautiful shades of the rainbow. Most are smaller though like I've been repeatedly poked with a bug thumb.

I haven't cycled in about 10 years and have been keen to ride regularly again, but this is a little off putting.

I have seen my dr on a few occasions about it and all bloods come up normal (other than iron deficiency)...and we are both quite perplexed.

Has anyone else had this happen??

Thanks!!

1. What kind of bicycle do you ride?

2. Do you ever walk your bicycle up hills?

Hi Machka!

I have a lovely restored 1970s raleigh. I don't bump my legs.

I have walked my bike up hills when I have the bub on the back...or I've come to a particularly large hill. Otherwise all rides have been around 10-15kms but very easy flat rides

Just wondering if, when you walk up the hills, your pedal bangs your calves or presses into your calves. I've had that happen to me and have ended up with scrapes and bruises.

I've also had it happen when I lived in a second-floor apartment and I walked my bicycles up the stairs every day. Not every time, of course, usually just when I was tired or distracted or something.

Ah yes! But unfortunately not the cause...even the dr can see no trauma! It's really really strange...

OK ... what is your cadence like?

I've never seen bruising caused by cycling itself. I guess you'll have to pay attention when you're loading the bike into the car, or standing over the bike when you're stopped. At some point you must be bumping the frame.

I've had some rashes on my legs over the last couple of years. Sometimes it can look a little like bruising as well. They are actually caused by fungal infection and need to be treated with a prescription cream. Heat and sweat aggravates it, which is something that occurs during bike rides. Might be something to look into.

Sounds like something that happens to me once in a while. If I dress too warm on my legs and then ride anyway, I get what I think is a heat rash. It's red blotches, that look a little like a bruise. If I keep on riding it takes a long time to go away. I have arthritis in my knees and hips, and ankles etc. My joints feel good if I am dressed to keep my legs very warm, too warm for most people. I also wear long underwear under my jeans, this does not help either.

If I stay off the bike for two days and don't get too hot and sweaty, it goes away. It looks really terrible sometimes.

Do you remember what it was called. Did you get treated by your family doctor, or did he send you to a specialist?

Broken blood vessels?

Not in my case. Thanks anyway.

My regular doctor was able to take care of it. I'm terrible about remembering names of meds. I usually take a pic with my cell phone so I won't forget, but I didn't this time. Sorry...

The rash is called ringworm.

But I'm not sure that's what the OP is talking about.

Bruises go "beautiful colours of the rainbow" closer toward the end of their healing process ... days or even a week or two after the incident.

The Changing Colors of Bruises and What They Mean | SymptomFind


Bub isn't somehow kicking you when you ride?

Thanks for all the responses everyone!! :)

Im not sure what my cadence is Matchka.

These are definitely bruises not a rash...and bub is too small to kick me...just yet.

The bruises come up only after a ride. They first come up dark purple/blue/black with bits of pink in them and the after about 2/3 days they turn that horrid yellow/tobacco colour for around a week.

Could maybe be broken blood vessels...Anyone know how cycling causes that? Does it get better? Or will it always happen?

Does your wife approve of your bike riding? and do you go to sleep before she does? just a theory,,, but I think small broken blood vessels as well....

Doo you take any blood thinners, or even aspirin daily? I do, and bruise for no reason..................

hehe I am the wifey of a mad cyclist. He approves of my riding...but yes I have considered maybe he's been the culprit! ;-) He's not though... @Wanderer (sorry not sure how to multiple quote) I don't...maybe my blood is a bit weird!
THANKS EVERYONE ill discuss burst blood vessels with the dr next time

That happened to me once, and googling turned up "miliaria rubra".

I was descending from Echo Lake to Bergen Park and it was getting warm *fast* due to the time of day *and* because I was descending. I didn't pull off the heavy tights I was wearing over my shorts until I reached Bergen Park, and my legs were covered in a red rash, but were not painful. It took several days to go away.

I looked at some photos and just read about it. That's it. Thanks!

Thanks for bringing that up. It allowed me to look at some photos and rule it out. One less thing to worry about.

I'm not being sarcastic, it was helpful.


Back to sarcastic mode........

What I was thinking is that if your cadence is slow and you're really mashing, perhaps you're bursting capillaries.


Also ... have you fallen? I slipped on icy roads while riding once, and landed on my knee. It felt like water was pouring down my leg but I checked and my leg was dry so I kept riding. I got home and took my tights off, and my whole leg was black ... one massive bruise. I went to the Dr who determined that I had ruptured a bursa in my knee and the fluid in the bursa had run down my leg, inside the skin. But it was OK ... the bursa would regrow and the blackness would dissolve like a bruise does ... and that's what happened, my whole leg went purple and green and yellow ...

My wife and I are 73 years old. We have been bicycling for 15 years now. About 3 years ago my wife started to notice large red rash like discolorations on the front of her thighs after a long day on the bicycles. Often somewhat itchy. These rashes would take about two days to disappear. Her family doctor used to ride bicycles and she showed him the leg rashes. He laughed and told her it was a heat rash much as a child would get and not to worry about it. Then about two years ago I started to see the same thing on my legs. Mainly on the calves. But mine resulted in some skin discoloration that does not go away. On winter rides there is no problem. just when we start to sweat on a ride. I started to wash my legs with pine tar soap in the event it were a skin bacteria problem. Common bar soaps based on modified lauric acid are noted for skin problems. The residual lauric acid left on the skin forms an ideal food for certain skin bacteria and may cause pimples on the skin.

Oh that sounds horrific!! Yikes!