Covid-19 Quad muscle pain

I have a lot of muscle pain and weakness. I try to massage them with a foam roller or simple stretching. It helps a little. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Does it get worse with exercise?

Yes! Covid totally attacked both of my quads where they attach to my knees. The same day I contracted covid, I developed inexplicable second degree double vastus lateralis strains (it was on a flight). This was July 2022. It put me in a wheelchair for 3 months, and my mobility has been limited ever since, as they refused to heal, even with several months of physical therapy. They have been too weak and inflamed to exercise, and rubbing them out only made them angrier. X-rays and MRIs showed nothing wrong with my knees and no actual tears, so the doctors can’t understand my ongoing pain and mobility struggles. I’ve just recently (in the last couple months) discovered that they are responding well to gentle, regular stretching (even though it hurts). My knees/quads have improved a lot since I began stretching them, but I’ve hit a plateau, as there’s only so many ways you can stretch your vastus lateralis.

Oh my gosh, I also have this, but I hadn’t linked it to the long COVID until I read your post. I can’t sleep at night sometimes, my quads ache so much!

Another way to stretch VL is walking backwards.

At night, I get this weird sensation in the injured areas of my knees/thighs that I can only describe as “grumbling” under the skin, That, and the general pain keeps me awake at night as well.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I’ve been doing that for months as part of my pt and it hasn’t helped at all.

I have exactly same issue. Not sure if due to covid, but first symptoms coincided in time with becoming ill for couple of days. Then, for six months, my quads were aching from time to time. After that, the pain turned on for good, and for the last 1,5 years I feel it constantly.

It's a pain that fluctuates during the day, week and on the bigger scales like months. It's slightly better or worse, but it never stops for good. I feel it just above the knees or it can affect the whole muscles. Both quads ache the same way.

Physical activity tends to make things worse, but not always and it's not required. Otherwise it's hard to find any strong correlations between intensity of the pain and external factors.

Currently I'm going through another attempt to get some diagnosis/help from doctors.

Yes, but it’s not constant. I also get large, painful knots in my calves. My shoulders also can become very sore for no apparent reason. I have lost flexibility in my shoulders: For about a year now, I am rarely able to sleep on my side with my arm under my pillow because it’s too painful. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I have slept that way all my life, so it has been hard to adjust. Sometimes my hips are so sore that I cannot lay on my side. Initially, I thought all this was a result of deconditioning, but it doesn’t improve with PT and the flare ups don’t necessarily correspond to physical exertion. The pain does not feel like muscle soreness like from a workout - it’s a different kind of pain that I cannot compare it to.
I also notice inflammation in the area around my knees and hips occasionally - it’s not visible but when I kneel down the space where my calf touches the back of my thigh feels like it’s going to pop like a balloon. It’s a strange feeling that’s hard to explain. I don’t seem to have any joint pain (which is listed as a common symptom of Long Covid), the pain is in the muscles/tissues near the joints. (My wrists and elbows are fine.)
I’ve been diagnosed with ME/CFS because of the debilitating fatigue of Long Covid). The ME is ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’ which means pain in the muscles, and inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.

I had a mild case of Covid a couple of weeks ago. Just before and during my illness, my right quadricep started feeling like it had a knot in it and felt weak. As the right side issue cleared up, my left side quadricep is doing the same thing and it has lasted well past my illness. I cannot wait until this goes away. It is really bothersome.

Not from the same cause, but I've had leg cramps for years. Almost every day I do stretches for leg muscles (mostly yoga and PT moves), some just before bed. For me, covid impacted aerobic exercise but not resistance, so weight training is easier than jogging and doesn't cause the fatigue crash. It is good to wait until after the covid is long gone before doing much aerobic exercise (I went on a long bike ride after my March covid, and had some cardiovascular problems that are mostly gone [finally]).