Bruise Busters
Have you ever just woken up in a blind panic because you slept through all of your alarms? You jump out of bed, still half asleep, and scramble around your room as you struggle to get ready. And then, as it so often does for so many of us, you bang your knee or your elbow against a bedpost or door frame. Pain throbs throughout the spot, but you muscle it down because you’re already late leaving for work. Then, after a long day, you come home to relax. As you’re changing out of your work clothes into something more comfortable, you notice it: a dark bloom of purple, red, and brown on the spot you bumped this morning.
Ouch.
We’ve all been there. It seems like after you know a bruise is there it just starts to hurt even more. Sometimes, it’s all you can do to not focus on that dull, throbbing pain. No one wants to deal with a bruise for a few days, or even a week in some unfortunate cases, so how do you get rid of them? Turns out, there are a few things you can pick up from around the house to bust that bruise.
The first is one many of us have probably heard our grandmothers say or something you may have seen on a Saturday morning cartoon. Reach into your freezer and pull out a bag of frozen vegetables. Okay, it may not be just like in the cartoons where they hold a frozen, raw steak to their bruises, but it’s the same concept! And, it’s much more sanitary… Just place the frozen bag of vegetables (or ice pack, if you have one) on the bruised area and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the bag after the 10 minutes, wait for another 20, and then reapply the bag again.
If your bruise is on your arm or leg, you should also try wrapping it up with a bandage. Wrap it tight— but not so tight that you cut off circulation— to help prevent the busted blood vessels beneath the skin from leaking more blood. This will help reduce swelling and keep the bruise from looking so severe. It also helps to elevate the bruised area since doing so will reduce blood flow to the bruised area and will help prevent fluid build-up that might make the area swell.
It also helps to massage the bruised area. Yeah, we know, that sounds like it’s really going to hurt, but it doesn’t have to! Instead of using your fingers to prod at and massage the area, try using a toothbrush (preferably an unused one, of course). Massage the area in circular motions to stimulate blood flow beneath to help get rid of the bruise quickly.
Try out these tips whenever you get a bruise! If your bruise goes deep or was gotten in a sports accident, come visit us at HealthCARE Express, since the bruising may be due to an underlying factor!
