Treatment/Therapy
The therapy depends on the cause that triggers the pain. A torn muscle fiber should be cooled immediately. Later, the muscles in the thigh should be spared for one to two days and a cooling ointment bandage should be applied.
Only then should the load be slowly increased again. A Baker’s cyst that does not cause any complaints does not usually need to be treated. However, if it does cause discomfort, restricted mobility or pain, the injury in the knee, for example arthrosis, must be treated.
Surgical removal of the cyst should only be performed in exceptional cases, as it often returns despite removal if the trigger is not treated. Lumbago or a herniated disc are usually treated with painkillers. It is important that the affected person does not stay in bed but moves (e.g. walking), but without putting weights on the back. In the course of the treatment, it is essential to strengthen the back muscles.
Prognosis/healing duration
The prognosis or the duration of healing also depends on the underlying cause. After a torn muscle fibre, no sports should be taken up to six weeks. In addition, a rupture can occur again if the strain is applied too early.
The spontaneous regression of a Baker’s cyst is generally not to be expected – without treatment of the cause. It is therefore important that the disease causing the cyst is treated. The Baker’s cyst usually reoccurs when knee problems recur. The symptoms of lumbago or herniated disc can also last for several weeks. After a lumbago or herniated disc, it is essential to start strengthening the back muscles in order to prevent further problems.
Can this also be a thrombosis?
A thrombosis is a vascular occlusion caused by a blood clot in a vein. The thrombosis typically causes dull pain, swelling and bluish-livid discoloration (cyanosis) of the affected area. In addition, a feeling of tension and an increased vein pattern on the skin may occur.
A thrombosis can cause pain in the back of the thigh if a vessel that runs along the back of the thigh is blocked. Thrombosis and inflammation of the superficial skin veins, also known as thrombophlebitis, can also cause pain in the back of the thigh. In this case there is a short-stretched, strand-like redness and painful thickening in the area of the thrombosis.
In both cases a doctor should be consulted. In the case of thrombosis of the deep veins, a therapeutic thinning of the blood (anticoagulation) must always take place. In the case of thrombosis of the superficial veins, cooling and pain therapy should be carried out, if necessary, blood thinning is also necessary.
