Pain On Anterior Side Of Calf Muscles, Looks Like A Lipoma Below The Knee. What Could Be This ?

Posted on Fri, 23 Mar 2012

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

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 Answered on

Thu, 5 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I am 38 years old and have started a walking regimin about 2 months ago, walking 1.5 miles 3 days a week. I at one time weighed 380 pounds but have since lost weight and am down to 325. At times when I walk the front of my left XXXXXXX hurts like a stabbing/burning pain, which I attributed to just underdeveloped calf muscles from my weight. It's on the anterior side of the calf. The day after St. Patrick's day i went walking and about 1/3 of the way through I started getting severe pain there that by the time I finished my walk was about a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale. I had to sit in my car and rub the muscle until I could drive away. Since then it has hurt less, but I have burning sore muscle pain here and there that I take ibuprofen for. Then yesterday i noticed that there appears to be an indentation about 3 inches below my knee on that muscle w/ what looks like a lipoma at the bottom of it. It is soft and doesn't hurt. The muscles feel the same under the skin as my right calf, but I'm not sure if this is because of that injury or something else. I have no weakness or foot drop or anything to speak of. It's more like my muscle is just shaped different on that leg than my right, which I know is possible obviously, especially since I had my right acl reconstructed years ago so that leg had to be totally rehabbed and is just developed differently anyway. Any ideas what this could be? I am out of work and have no insurance, so that's why I'm on here asking advice. Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (20 minutes later)

Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
From the symptoms described it seems that you are suffering from XXXXXXX splints.
It happens due to overuse injury or inflammation of the tendons around the knee joint.
You can help yourself by-
1. Avoid long distance walking till the pain has absolutely subsided.
2. Use mild analgesics like ibuprofen to control the acute symptoms.
3. Workouts such as stationary bicycling or pool running will help you in maitaining an active lifestyle instead of walking.
4. Applying ice pack on the area will reduce the inflammation.
5. A 4-inch wide Ace bandage wrapped around the region also helps reduce discomfort.
6. Stretching and strengthening exercises done twice a day under the guidance of physiotherapist will be helpful.
The indentation in the calf muscle could be a developmental malformation or a lipoma. An examination is needed for differentiating the two.

I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (4 hours later)

Thank you for your help Dr. Tayal. I was wondering what the difference between a lipoma and developmental malformation is? Also, if the muscles feel the same in the indentation as the other leg, would that take away the possibility of atrophy of some kind? Thanks.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (8 hours later)

Hello.
Thanks for writing again.
A lipoma is a collection of fat cells. A developmental malformation refers to a fibrous band or fascia which is causing the indentation.
Muscle atrophy is ruled out if the feel of muscles and the muscle strength on both sides is same.
Hope my answer is helpful.
Do accept my answer in case there are no further queries.
Regards.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar