Broken Blood Vessels After Exercise
Health ConditionsBlood Disorders

Broken Blood Vessels After Exercise

Broken Blood Vessels After Exercise
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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You may break blood vessels in your skin or even in your eye when pressure in that area has increased. This may occur during a strenuous workout, such as a weight lifting session, or even during day-to-day tasks.

Despite mild to moderate pain, these conditions are common and often go away on their own. But it’s wise to know when you should care for them and when to call the doctor.

Bruising

Broken blood vessels under skin are known as bruises or ruptured capillaries. You might notice them on your shoulders after working out, such as during a barbell squat when the weight bar presses on the affected area, or after trauma from a fall or direct force to your skin.

Bruising, or ecchymosis, is the result of blood pooling just under the skin. Bruises may be red, purple, black, blue, brown, or yellow, depending on the severity and the stage of your body healing in that area.

Although bruises are a fact of life for the vast majority of people and won’t cause long-term damage or injury after exercise, they may be the sign of a more serious condition.

In addition to bursting blood vessels as a result of a tear or strain during exercise, reasons you may bruise easily include:

  • Blood-thinners or similar medications
  • Vitamin C or K deficiency
  • Genetics
  • Pain relievers, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
  • Thrombocytopenia, or low blood-platelet count
  • Bleeding and clotting disorders such as hemophilia
  • Cancer or liver disease
Most bruises go away in a few weeks.

 If you have a bruise after exercise that does not improve, contact your doctor.

Subconjunctival Hemorrhages

When you break blood vessels in your eye, it’s known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage. It is usually painless, and you might not even know it's there until you look in the mirror and notice your eye looks like it's “bleeding.”

Causes of a subconjunctival hemorrhage aren’t always known. But they can come from the strain of exercise and other activities, including:

  • Coughing
  • Sneezing
  • Rubbing your eye
  • Vomiting
  • A foreign object in your eye
Subconjunctival hemorrhages usually go away on their own within a week or two and need no treatment to go away, except in rare cases. If you notice a bruise in your eye after bruising appears around your eye, contact a healthcare professional.

Caring for Your Broken Blood Vessels at Home

Bruises on your skin may be mildly to moderately uncomfortable. To help them heal faster, elevate the area if possible, and apply ice for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, several times per day for about two days after injury.

Rest the injured area if you can, and take over-the-counter pain relievers if needed. Be aware that some medications, such as aspirin, can make bruising worse.

 Contact your doctor if you have concerns about using pain relievers or if you are on other medications that may cause interactions.

After two days, or when the bruise appears yellow or green, you may apply gentle heat compresses to help the blood absorb back into the surrounding tissues.

If you also have swelling, elevate the affected area to help it heal.

 Wrapping a swollen arm or leg for a day or two after injury also can help decrease pain. Avoid wrapping the bandage too tightly — you should be able to slide two fingers between the wrap and your skin.

When to See the Doctor

Most bruises and broken blood vessel issues go away within a few weeks.

At times, however, broken blood vessels can indicate a significant injury, such as a torn muscle or broken bone. Contact your doctor if your symptoms include:

  • Fever
  • Signs of infection, such as redness, pus, or drainage
  • Extreme pressure on your bruise, especially in a large area
  • A lump over the bruise, which could be the result of pooling blood, called a hematoma
  • Quick spreading of the bruise
  • Unusual bleeding, such as from the gums or nose or in your urine

The Takeaway

  • Getting broken blood vessels under your skin or in your eyes is common after intense workouts.
  • Bruises can be painful, but they typically resolve with rest, ice, and at-home care in a few weeks.
  • Burst blood vessels in the eyes are called subconjunctival hemorrhages, and they are painless and resolve on their own.
  • Contact your doctor if you feel you are bruising easily or have bruising coupled with symptoms such as a fever, intense pain, or additional bleeding.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Bruises (Ecchymosis). Cleveland Clinic. January 26, 2023.
  2. Subconjunctival Hemorrhage (Broken Blood Vessel in the Eye). Mayo Clinic. September 21, 2021.
  3. Black Eye: First Aid. Mayo Clinic. May 17, 2024.
  4. Bruise: First Aid. Mayo Clinic. April 17, 2024.
  5. Bhatt DL. Aspirin and Bruising. Harvard Health Publishing. October 1, 2021.
  6. Bruise. MedlinePlus. April 27, 2023.
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Natalia Johnsen, MD

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Natalia Johnsen, MD, practices internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. She works as an internist for the Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Washington.

Johnsen trained and worked as ob-gyn in Russia before coming to the United States in 2000. Subsequently, she interned in internal medicine at the University of Nevada and completed her residency at a Stanford-affiliated program in Santa Clara, California. After that she worked as a general internist for two years before to switching to full-time hospital work.

Johnsen has always been fascinated by the effects that lifestyle can have on physical and mental health, and she fell in love with the concept of lifestyle medicine as a specialty after seeing patients struggle with issues that could have been prevented had they known more about a healthy lifestyle. To make an impact on her patients through lifestyle interventions, she launched her own lifestyle medicine clinic, Vivalso Health and Longevity.

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