my VMO felt a little tight after squatting yesterday, so i did 25 minutes of hardcore myofascial release on it (went real deep).
immediately aftewards, i noticed the VMO had swollen. it’s been 20 hours and the swelling hasn’t subsided.
is there anything to be worried about? is this normal? thanks.
There will be some swelling. If you go really hard you can get some bruising also. It gets a lot of blood in there as well, making it more noticeable.
So long as there is no increased tightness or restriction of mobility, it’s fine. It may hurt doing exercises within 48 hours, but you can still do them, and do them hard as well if you’re prepared for brutal DOMS
you seem to have a lot of experience with this, any idea how long my VMO will take to go back to normal?
i tried a bodyweight squat just now, and the swollen muscle feels uncomfortable/tight. i’d rather just go back to squatting when it gets back to normal.
thanks.
I you did it really hard, like to bruise it, it might take up to a week to feel normal, and anything up to 1 1/2 to 2 weeks to be completely and totally free of any feeling from it.
If you give it 4-5 days it is normally plenty, even if you have done it so hard it is bruised. I’ve found it’ll feel different to normal, both because it’s still a little swollen and because it is no longer tight.
it’s been 2.5 days now and the swelling is going down, and both quads feel pretty damn good.
thanks smokotime.