You see no matter how much you exercise good old Charlie can still come and pay you a visit. You see a Charlie-horse occurs when the fleshy part of your thigh gets hit real hard by either an object or another person. How can this happen when we ski? Well, if you're a racer, bashing gates is definitely one possibility. Others include falling on ski equipment during a wipeout or running into something along the way. As a result of any one of these collisions the muscle contusion and possibly a strain bleeding can result within the muscle. This bleeding, as we all know is a hematoma.
The injury itself will cause the leg muscle to seize up and you may find it very difficult to either move or get up. Often there will be swelling and bruising and depending on how hard you were hit you may even develop lumpy mass like a knotted up rope.
So to get back to skiing is not a good thing with this type of an injury...even though that lift ticket cost you $50, the complication that can arise are not worth it. You see with adequate rest the hematoma is normally reabsorbed into the tissue as part of the regular healing process. By not allowing this to happen you run the risk of setting off a calcification process and all kinds of complications can manifest in the connective tissue around the muscle.
THE TREATMENT: So to get the healing process started with a Charlie-horse you should consider the following general remedy:
(1) Get of the ski slope
(2) Get some snow/ice off the slopes and on the thigh
(3) Get off your feet (Chalet Lizard)
(4) Get a message
(5) If the pain is still there after 5 days see a physiotherapist
In this particular case there is no gain from the pain so take care of that Charlie-horse before you hit the slopes for another day!
Cheers! Michael (The Ski Bum)
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