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Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy
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I am hoping someone might have some insight/thoughts before I give up and sell my tri bike. Three and a half years ago I partially tore my left hamstring and developed high hamstring tendonopathy. This occurred 4 months after purchasing my first tri bike (Cervelo P3). Previously I was riding a road bike with clip-on aerobars with no issue.

I was able to figure out that it was riding my tri bike that was causing my high hamstring tendonopathy and not running which is the usual cause. I tried all sorts of things to resolve my high hamstring tendonopathy – ART, massage therapy, acupuncture, shockwave, worked with a functional strength trainer, had a biomechanical assessment and worked on changing my running gait, etc… I have also had several bike fits (including Retul and Guru) and tried several types of bike saddles. None of the above helped so, in May 2017 I had a series of PRP injections and took 4 months solid off training and racing. All I did was my rehab exercises, swim with a pull bouy and walk. My hamstrings settled down and felt better by September 2017.

This past fall I slowly eased back in running and riding my road bike. All was good so, in the new year I decided to give my tri bike a go and see what happened. After two one hour trainer rides my hamstrings are all inflamed and seriously hurting again! So frustrating.

I can’t figure out what it is about my tri bike and the aero position that completely destroys my hamstrings. I would like to ride my Cervelo P3 but at this point I am ready to sell it and it and my road bike and invest in a newer/better road bike. Any thoughts before I throw in the towel on my tri bike?
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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A picture of your fit on the Tribike would be essential in trying to help.

"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Have you tried replicating the fit of your road bike on your P3? Seems like it's worth a shot to see if it eases the tension on your hamstrings and allows you to keep riding the P3.

"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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N = 1 experience. I had similar issues 4 to 5 years ago (high hamstring was a mess, both legs), not sure what it was that I read in the interwebs, in fact it might have been something here on Slowtwitch. Anyway, I lowered the saddle on my tri bike a good inch, if not more. Problem solved fairly quickly. Again, N = 1 experience.


"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds like a fit problem.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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I've had high ham and glute issues as well. I do believe that one of the contributing factors was my saddle being too high. After posting a video here, a few folks recommended dropping my saddle by 1 - 2 cm. I'm still trying to get used to it, but it def pulls a bit less on my hamstring.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Your seat is too high. Or you're "powering the upstroke". Or both.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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I've had similar flare ups when my seat is too high.

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you very much for the comments. Greatly appreciated. I will take some new photos/video and post them.Interesting that my seat could be too high. You would have thought in the 4 bike fits I have had done, someone would have caught that!
Last edited by: CDNtriGal: Jan 18, 18 11:59
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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What saddles have you tried and what saddle are you currently on? Also, posterior pelvic rotation is critical.

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Last edited by: stevej: Jan 20, 18 4:46
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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I feel you. Training injuries are utterly frustrating. Do you have any discomfort in your glute or calf areas as well, or is it exclusive to the hamstring?

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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I had/have the same issue as you. My road bike doesn't bother my hamstrings at all, and even though I tried to replicate my road bike position on my tri bike, they just inherently are different, and the way I ride them are different. I use a combination of things to resolve this:

1. Like others have said, I lowered my saddle a bit. It seemed strange to lower it SO MUCH more than my road bike, so I didn't do anything drastic.
2. I moved my seat forward. I realized I naturally wanted to sit on the tip of my saddle, like power-wise that's where my body wanted to be, but saddle comfort-wise I'd want to settle more towards the middle of the saddle. This was probably the biggest factor issue, because I realized I was really stretching my hamstrings to sit so far rearward.
3. I constantly do eccentic hamstring exercises with actual hamstring curl weight machines. I can't find a good/effective way to do these at home with dumbbells, body weight, or resistance bands, unfortunately. I try to go to the gym 1x per week to do these, in season and out of season.
4. I do a lot of my training on my road bike to switch it up, so I'm not just aggravating all the same muscles all the time. I do do a lot of road bike racing though, so it makes sense for me.
5. Stop stretching and foam rolling my hamstrings. That just made them worse.

I'm sure you've already heard a lot of these suggestions, but this is what I've found to work for me. The saddle fore/aft position was the big "ah hah" moment because it's something that my bike fitter didn't realize because he never sees me in my "tired/sore towards the end of a hard workout" position which was causing problems that my "fresh and I know I'm being watched" position didn't.

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Does it manifest as pain right at the ischial tuberosity?

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [MarkyV] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
Does it manifest as pain right at the ischial tuberosity?

I'm curious--what does that pain signify? I continue to experience occasional pain at the ischial tuberosity following high hamstring tear a number of years ago.

No coasting in running and no crying in baseball
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [Tri3] [ In reply to ]
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being playfully snarky: stop riding your bike

:)

I've had this twice and both times continued riding exacerbated the situation. I've also advised a few folks (pros included) on this injury. IIRC in all cases staying off the bike for a week or two at the least was part of the prescription.

As for physically what it means... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can only guess inflammation at the attachment point and sitting and grinding on it is doing the healing process no favors.

ETA: If you're on an ISM saddle then place even more weight on not riding to get this healthy

36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
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Last edited by: MarkyV: Jan 19, 18 10:19
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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For those of you that lowered your seat, can you give approximate resultant knee angles (extended) or, even better, upload images? Thanks!

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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i did triathlon all out for 8 years with no injury, then bought a new bike that was bigger and higher saddle, which i did start riding faster with, and got hht a few months later, i think it is just too high of a saddle, my career is over, wont go away after three years, i wouldnt risk getting back into it now if it still hurts
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [MarkyV] [ In reply to ]
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MarkyV wrote:
Does it manifest as pain right at the ischial tuberosity?

Yes it does. Feels like I am sitting on a golf ball.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [stevej] [ In reply to ]
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stevej wrote:
What saddles have you tried and what saddle are you currently on? Also, anterior pelvic rotation is critical.

I have tried ISM Prologue, ISM PN 1.1 and SMP T3. I am currently using a Fizik Mistica.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [domingjm] [ In reply to ]
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domingjm wrote:
I feel you. Training injuries are utterly frustrating. Do you have any discomfort in your glute or calf areas as well, or is it exclusive to the hamstring?

The pain is mainly in my glute but also in the bicep femoris (just up from the knee).
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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Nobody can fix this for you. You need to toughen up your tendon. You can ride your tri bike again. Check the HHT rehab protocol thread (i bumped it).

Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [mortysct] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks. I will check out the other thread. I have been doing hamstring exercises prescribed by a chiropractor/athletic therapist for 2+ years now. I get to the gym 3x a week to do them. Everything was good until I got back on my tri bike again.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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CDNtriGal wrote:
Thanks. . Everything was good until I got back on my tri bike again.

your seat is too high...

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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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CDNtriGal wrote:
domingjm wrote:
I feel you. Training injuries are utterly frustrating. Do you have any discomfort in your glute or calf areas as well, or is it exclusive to the hamstring?


The pain is mainly in my glute but also in the bicep femoris (just up from the knee).

Have you had any imaging (xray, mri) done? In my case, I have CAM/FAI in the hip which causes one side to not move as well, which I think caused a cascade of issues. But saddle height was also one of them.

Anyway, I would -also- get pain in the bicep femoris just up from the knee, but it would be the next day. So the pain -during- exercise would be at the isch tuberosity, then the next day (doms?) it would be the lower femoris that was sore.

Anyway, aside from lowering the seat, one of the big things for me, was doing a -lot- of strengthening of everything around the hamstring, perhaps to take up some of the work that was hurting the ham previous. A lot of glute exercises, calf exercises, etc.
I'm still not cured and maybe never will be due to my hip issue, but the exercises have helped a lot. And I think that is what someone else mentioned above with the rehab protocol, exercises.
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Re: Tri Bike Causing High Hamstring Tendonopathy [CDNtriGal] [ In reply to ]
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I had some version of this throughout last year, tried all the various exercise recommendations from slowtwitch threads with no success or healing and then finally got my stubborn ass into a running oriented PT in Dec. She diagnosed a strain at my hamstring attachment point, but said my lack of hamstring flexibility was severe enough that the tension was preventing the attachment point strain from being able to heal. Her regimen for me was all about long steady stretching of hamstring as well as groin and glutes, and gluteus medius strengthening (e.g. clamshells with a band). I asked that shouldn't i also be strengthening my hams, and she said it's totally optional for now and if i do it, focus on lightweight, eccentric contraction based exercises. point is to increase flexibility and range of motion as the primary goal.

long story short, the healing massively kicked in within three weeks and i'm now back on the run pain free. can also sit in my office chair again. it's pretty glorious. throughout 2017 i had held off from stretching and just foam rollered, because stretching seemed like it would worsen a strain. boy was i wrong.

May or may not be relevant for you, but seemed worth a share.
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