A deep bruise typically lasts four to six weeks, though the exact timeline depends on which tissue is damaged and how severe the injury is. Mild muscle bruises can resolve in five to seven days, while bone bruises can take several months to fully heal.
The word “deep” matters here. A surface bruise from bumping your shin fades in a couple of weeks. A deep bruise means blood has pooled inside muscle tissue or even bone, where it takes much longer for your body to clean up the damage and rebuild.
Healing Timeline by Severity
Mild deep bruises, where the muscle is sore but you can still use it normally, tend to heal in five to seven days. You might notice some stiffness and discoloration, but function returns quickly.
Moderate to severe muscle bruises are a different story. These take four to six weeks to heal. The injured area may feel stiff, swollen, and painful for much of that time, especially during the first two weeks. You’ll likely notice reduced strength or range of motion in the affected muscle until it fully recovers.
Bone bruises sit at the far end of the spectrum. Most last a few weeks, but severe bone bruises can take months or longer to heal completely. Unlike a muscle bruise, a bone bruise creates a weak spot that can progress to a fracture if you put too much stress on it too soon. This is why rest matters more with bone bruises than with typical soft tissue injuries.
Why Deep Bruises Change Color
The color shifts you see on the surface tell you what’s happening inside. When blood vessels break deep in the tissue, red blood cells leak out and rupture. Your body then breaks down the hemoglobin from those cells in a specific sequence, and each stage produces a different pigment.
The initial red or dark purple comes from fresh hemoglobin. Over the following days, your immune cells start converting that hemoglobin into a green pigment, which is why bruises often turn blue-green. That green pigment is then converted into a yellow one, giving bruises their late-stage yellowish or brownish appearance. Iron left over from the process gets stored as a brown pigment, which can linger as a faint stain in the skin for a while after the bruise itself has healed.
With deep bruises, these color changes may be delayed or muted because the bleeding is farther from the skin’s surface. You might feel significant pain and swelling before any visible discoloration appears, and the bruise may “migrate” as gravity pulls the pooled blood downward through the tissue over several days.
Hematomas: When a Bruise Forms a Lump
A standard bruise is blood dispersed through tissue. A hematoma is a larger, more concentrated collection of blood that forms a distinct, raised lump. Hematomas are typically painful to the touch and noticeably swollen compared to the surrounding tissue.
Small hematomas often resolve on their own, though they take longer than a regular bruise because your body has more pooled blood to reabsorb. Larger hematomas sometimes need to be drained by a doctor, particularly if they aren’t shrinking after a couple of weeks or are causing pressure and pain. If you notice a firm lump forming in a bruised area, or if painful swelling isn’t improving, that’s worth getting evaluated.
What Can Go Wrong
Most deep bruises heal without complications, but two conditions are worth knowing about.
Abnormal Bone Growth in the Muscle
After a severe muscle contusion, some people develop a hard, bony lump inside the injured muscle. This happens when the healing process goes slightly off track and the body deposits bone-like tissue where it doesn’t belong. It typically causes lingering stiffness, limited range of motion, and a firm mass you can feel under the skin. For most people, this resolves on its own over several weeks to months, though stiffness can persist for a while after the lump itself is gone.
Compartment Syndrome
This is the rare but serious one. Severe muscle contusions can cause so much swelling and internal bleeding that pressure builds inside the muscle compartment, compressing blood vessels and nerves. Warning signs include pain that’s far more intense than you’d expect, visible bulging or swelling, tightness, numbness, tingling, or a burning sensation under the skin. The muscle may feel unusually full or firm. This is an emergency. If you’re experiencing these symptoms after a significant injury, go to the emergency room.
How to Help a Deep Bruise Heal Faster
For the first 48 hours, cold therapy is your best tool. Apply an ice pack wrapped in a cloth for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, several times a day. Cold constricts blood vessels and limits further bleeding into the tissue. Rest the injured area and keep it elevated when possible to reduce swelling.
After 48 hours, switch to heat. A heating pad or warm compress applied several times a day increases blood flow to the area, which helps your body clear out the pooled blood and damaged cells faster. This transition from cold to heat is important. Using heat too early can actually increase bleeding and swelling, while sticking with ice too long slows the cleanup process.
Gentle movement helps once the initial pain subsides. Light stretching and easy use of the muscle prevent stiffness and promote circulation without risking further damage. For bone bruises, be more conservative. Returning to sports or intense activity before a bone bruise heals puts you at real risk of turning a bruise into a fracture.
When Healing Takes Unusually Long
If your deep bruise hasn’t improved after six weeks, or if you’re still dealing with significant pain, swelling, or reduced function, something else may be going on. A hematoma that hasn’t reabsorbed, abnormal bone growth in the muscle, or an underlying bone bruise that wasn’t initially apparent can all extend recovery well beyond the normal timeline. Blood thinners and certain clotting disorders also slow bruise healing significantly.
Bruises that keep appearing without a clear cause, or that seem disproportionate to the injury, can sometimes signal a bleeding disorder or other medical issue worth investigating. A single deep bruise from an obvious injury is rarely a concern beyond the bruise itself, but patterns of unusual bruising are a different matter.