Quadricep Strain

Last sunday I was doing some sprints when I felt a fairly sharp pain in my left quad. Stupidly though I carried on (probably due to the fact that my ITBS wasn't playing up)! Anyway, I kept stretching it throughout the session, which eased the pain and was thus able to continue.

I iced the injury when I got home and have continued to do so. By Tuesday a lovely large bruise had appeared, although the area itself isn't really that painful. I can walk around without pain, the problem arises when I do squats and I assume sprinting will only aggrevate it to.

Anyway, what I would like to know is the time scale for these injuries and is there anything else I can be doing to quicken the healing process? I've looked on the internet and it seems to vary from a few days to three months - is this right?

well.... if there's a bruise then there's torn muscle fibres....
When I did mine it swelled up for a few days - was unwalkable on for one day - but I was able to run on it within 5 days

So long as it doesn't hurt to run on - and you keep going in a straight line and avoid steep hills (especially downhill) and sharp turns - and excessive distances, simple running should be OK

BUT normally quads don't just tear unless there's an underlying reason - eg a muscle imbalance / sudden loading etc It might have been the sprints which triggered it...

Was it straight dead centre in the front of the leg - about 5" down ? That's where mine went - and it was because of a huge muscle imbalance - and it just kept recurring until I sorted out the imbalance problems etc

Also, look at www.hartmann-international.com
articles
stretching

for some really effective (different) techniques of stretching

Oh yeah - and suggest you avoid lunges for a bit as well as squats - until you are sure what caused it and that its fully recovered and you've got no other imbalance