Why does my nose keep swelling up after working out? How can I heal?

It is best to be seen by a physician if you experienced a nasal fracture.  It is common for the nose to swell after exercise.  You may need to avoid over exertion until you are completely healed.  

The nasal swelling after trauma (either surgical or accidental) slowly goes away as everyone knows. However there are fluctuations during this period (which BTW can last a few months to unfortunately over a year). Lying down is the most common cause and this is why people's nasal tips appear swollen when they first wake up. Exercise the probably the second most common cause and this is why it's not allowed for a month or so. Less like are salty food, red wine, hot weather and sun exposure.

Thanks for the question. I recommend you to have a consult with a surgeon to see if you need surgery or what can you do about your fracture.Kind regards,Dr. Emmanuel Mallol.-

Great question - and very common.  After nasal trauma, just like trauma anywhere else, you will have subsequent swelling as the tissue gets inflammed and tries to heal itself.  The issue is two fold - 1) the blood circulation in the face is fantastic.  its part of the reason why things can heal so well (and so much faster in relation to other parts of the body) on the face.  that being said, as your heart rate increases and your blood pressure rises with exercise all of this blood supply to your face will increase.  As this happens, the areas trying to heal (which will already have an increase demand in blood supply) will get flushed with more fluid.  this is an oversimplification of the mechanism, but you get the idea.  as you continue to heal, the amount of swelling you get after workouts will decrease.  also 2) in order for things to heal quickly, they need to rest. think of breaking an arm, and having to be in a cast for 4-6 weeks for example. the nose is in the middle of your face, and as such, a large majority of the muscles of facial expression are connected in one way or another to the nose.  as you go about your daily routine, your nose will shift in miniscule amounts - certainly enough to prolong the healing process. this is also part of the reason why it can take a year for things to settle after a rhinoplasty.  putting both of these together, you can see why your nose swells after exercising following trauma.  unfortunately the best thing for you to do to speed up the healing is take it easy :).  use how you feel as a guide - if you feel swelling and throbbing, thats your body telling you that you are not quite ready to push it that hard.  it will improve. and it will go down.  once the swelling resolves, if you would like to fix the broken nose because you are having difficulties breathing or you do not like the way it looks, thats a totally different issue! i hope this helps.  

It is common to have nasal swelling after nasal injury and often occurs after exercise. I highly recommend a consultation with a physician to evaluate the extent of your nasal fracture and injury. I also recommend avoid heavy lifting and contact sports while your nose is healing. Best of luck.