Fell Down And Injured Shin. Having Pain On The Area With Swelling. Suggest Treatment

Posted on Mon, 4 Nov 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 4 Nov 2013 Answered on

Sat, 30 Nov 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : my 95 yr old father fell on a metal trash can. He has a knot on his shinn the size of a walnut, and there is a cut on the knot. It is also pink around the swollen area and goes down to his foot.....the swollen area is about 4" below his knee. He does not have a fever and the area is not warm to the touch. He only has pain in his shinn, when he stands on it. There does not appear to be any pus in the wound. This happened about two weeks ago. He feels alright otherwise.

Answered by Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar (12 hours later)

Brief Answer: Superficial infection Detailed Answer: Hi, There seems to be a superficial wound that is healing. You can aid the healing with over the counter antibiotic/antiseptic cream like Bacitracin. Ideally he should have received a Tetanus Immunoglobulin injection after the injury. Since it s been two weeks from now the risk of tetanus is low (average incubation period of tetanus is 7 days). It is also wise to give him a low dose oral antibiotics to avoid any complications. He seems to be carrying a pacemaker and has CHF. The pain is because of the contraction of the muscles of shin when he stands. A mild analgesic like Tylenol should keep off the pain. Keep the area clean and dry If you see signs of pus or foul smelling odor you should consider injectible antibiotics. Hope this answers.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli