Treatment of Acute Thigh Muscle Injury with or without Hematoma Puncture in Athletes

OBJECTIVES: To correlate the mean time of return of athletes to sport after acute injury of the thigh muscle with hematoma that was punctured or not. METHODS: Study based on clinical intervention, controlled and non-randomized with 20 amateur and professional athletes, divided into moderate and total or subtotal thighs lesions, according with the Munich Consensus Statement. Nine athletes were included in the intervention group and 11 athletes in the control group. In the intervention group, the athletes were submitted to a puncture of the hematoma, associated to physical therapy; the control group did only physical therapy. The variable mean time of return to sport was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test and a significance level of 5% ( p < 0.05; 95% confidence interval [CI]) was established. RESULTS: The mean group was composed mostly of men, eight of them were amateur athletes. There were three women, two of whom were amateur athletes. The average age of participants was 34.70 ± 12.79 years. There were 13 patients with posterior thigh lesions, 5 with anterior lesions and two with adductor lesions. Considering all injuries, the mean time of return to sport was of 48.50 ± 27.50 days in the intervention group. In the control group, this period was of 102.09 ± 52.02 days, showing a statistically significant difference between them ( p = 0.022). CONCLUSION: In the present study, hematoma drainage in athletes with moderate and total or subtotal muscle injuries associated with hematomas decreased their return time to sport.