First I want to thank those who posted their rehab protocol in this thread as if not for you, I would have never found my solution. I just wanted to post, in case what I did could help someone.
It was late December and I was signed up for Lake Placid Ironman 2014, and had just spent 4 months not running bc of what i was 99% certain was high hamstring tendinitis, which just did not seem to be going away with rest, and i kept reaggravating even though i was not running … and knew i was at the make/break point, i had to start running. When i read TTC’s protocol, the hamstring ball curls caught my eye, as I had read an article in the NYTimes 6 years ago about using eccentric exercise for curing elbow tendinitis (tennis elbow), and showed it to my boyfriend who successfully used the exercise to cure his elbow tendinitis, which he had from swimming.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/phys-ed-an-easy-fix-for-tennis-elbow
I decided I had nothing to lose, either i started running, or i wasn’t going to be able to do LP, so I did the hamstring ball curls (3 x 15 reps) 2-3 times a day and i started slowly running again. What i found interesting was my daughter had introduced me to the hamstring ball curls in the fall as one of her new dryland swim team exercises, but i rarely did them bc that more than anything seem to aggravate my hamstring. But now i was doing them 2-3 times a day, no matter how my hamstring felt.
I looked at all the other things in the protocol and of all the other things there, the only other thing i did consistently was the double/single legged bridges, and occasionally the monster walks.
In addition, for the first month (January) i went to my chiropractor 1-2x/week, who did normal adjustments and light Grastons. I talked to him about kinseology tape (which i had used successfully for other injuries), and he had gone to a seminar w a top expert who said, don’t bother w online videos just tape to your pain. I really had no idea what that meant, but i felt the thing that would feel the best for me was to take 2 strips and starting just above the back of my knee place them as an “X” with the “X” more or less crossing high on my hamstring just around/below the point of my pain (each time was probably slightly different). I stretched the tape to about 50% before applying.
So for the month of January that is what i did, hamstring ball curls and I stayed taped (Rock tape i find sticks best) for most of the week. Oh, and i also did a lot of standing at work (bc as you have all noted, sitting hurts), and when i did sit at work I sat on a ball which didn’t bother it as much. I slowly increased the amount i was running, and threw in some moderately intense intervals, and while some runs were better than others, I found i could keep increasing my mileage/intensity and it at least wasn’t getting worse and was slowly improving. As it improved i gradually reduced the hamstring ball curls to 1x/day, stayed taped, and kept running. I probably stopped hamstring ball curls about a month ago (i was down to like 1x/week) and stopped taping a few weeks ago, and while i still feel an ache in my hamstring every once in a while (mostly sitting or if i just think about it, like it is really achy right now just from writing about it) I can pretty much run how much/how ever i want pain free (i ran 15 miles this morning), and am on track for LP.
I just want to add 2 additional things i did (just in case they mattered). The only stretching related things i did was lying on my back and holding each knee across my chest to work on releasing my SI joint, which my chiropractor highly suggested. And, this other video i came across on a stretch for better running position, I found to be extremely helpful (video at bottom of post):
http://www.kinetic-revolution.com/proximal-hamstring-tendinopathy-a-real-pain-in-the-butt-for-runners/
