For me, yes.

Great article on treating your hamstring issue:
https://cdn.shopify.com/...18009094848855083734

Tom Michaud is a chiropractor in Boston and in my opinion has been a great resource for my practice and patients and has authored a number of running textbooks and a patients self care book that’s currently being updated called “Injury Free Running”. He provides links in all his articles to the latest research. I’ve emailed Slowman suggesting he interview him :-)

There’s lots of options out there and my best suggestion is find a solution that makes to you.

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Mike

Sure.
Male. 64 yo

1. It just slooooooowly got better. There wasn't one "ah ha" moment or exercise that made a difference. Time is the key. First symptoms appeared in June 2020 after I did one too many hill repeats. I didn't let it heal completely and it morphed into tendinopathy


2. Rest did not seem to help. I continued to run, albeit a lot slower. Pain was my my guide with respect to how fast. It didn't seem to make a difference how far I ran. If i kept the pace manageable and "relatively" pain free, it was rarely more sore afterwards than when i started the run. If i pushed the pace, I felt it the next day.

3. Lots of eccentric tendon loading, hamstring curls, squats. Foam rolling seemed to aggravate it. It sure didn't help.

4. The turning point for me was when I thought..."eff it, I'm going to run through this and just deal with the discomfort". I switched my mindset from focusing on how it felt day to day, week to week to just grinding it out. See 3. above.

4. It wasn't a linear healing process. Lot's of minor setbacks. Lot's of weeks when it just seem to drag on. Some good weeks.

As of today, I can still feel it when I pick up the pace significantly. But, like I mentioned above, it's slooowly getting better. The pace at which I notice it has increased.

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Thanks. Mine is also pace-dependent. I'm working on form; overstriding aggravates it for me.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Yes 5years of pain but finally feel like getting fit again. Took a year to diagnose properly with MRI, got some poor physio advice, couldn’t shake it, then got a really good physio who switched me on to the idea that my stress/worry about it was making it worse. It’s been incredibly slow but I’ve found deadlifting/Nordic curls to be the best thing. Also doing mindful exercises so when it does niggle I don’t fixate. I developed a mantra of “sensation isn’t pain” to repeat to myself when it niggled!

This is spot on!!!!

Slowman wrote:

i have some questions i'd like to ask you. testing some theories.

Ask this guy.....

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=6253105#p6253105

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

I had it back in 2016 and had to quit running for six months. No cycling or swimming for three months.

As you stated, it involved pain up high, near the butt cheek. Yes, it can cause some people to have calf pain but these people also usually have the high pain as well.

Mine started in March. Had PRP in June when it did not seem to be improving with rest (no running) and rehab. Who knows if the PRP really made a difference or not but I was getting desperate and felt like it certainly could not make it any worse.

For me, eccentric exercises made mine hurt more. So, besides no running, I focused on strengthening the muscles around the area (the glutes....max, med, and minimus). My glute med and min were extremely weak, to the point that my PT asked "are you even trying?" when he was testing me. Also, I did bridges with a band. It wasn't until about two months after I started doing these that I actually felt comfortable trying eccentric exercises.

Once I was back to running, I had this weird numbness, and fullness, feeling to the back of my leg for a few months. For this, I started doing something called "nerve flossing" and it seemed to clear it up (though time itself may have been what cleared it up).

Had it years ago. Took lots of stretching and massage to finally get it resolved.

I had a proximal hamstring rupture with a complete avulsion of all three tendons, if that's of interest to you. I had it surgically repaired and was able to resume riding my bike and running.

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Mike Sparks


I have competed well, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Spot on?
Respectfully, for most people who end up getting HHT, if they do what he said in #4, its never going to get better IMHO......

I took 2 years off running, lifted weights, had a needling procedure etc.. Never helped, I finally said screw it, and slowly started running with pain, and it slowly started going away. I was doing hamstring curls 3xweek while starting to run again. I was told by a couple Doctor friends that stopping running was not the way to recovery, of course I didn't listen, but looking back, they were right.

Just my experience with the injury. I'm 95% healed. Still can feel it now and then, last summer I built up to 85 miles/week of running, so not bad!!

I'm not necessarily saying all running should stop. That didn't work for me either. What did work was finally doing the exercises that physio recommended, glute work, calf work, nordics, and super super light hamstring curls IF they were completely pain free.

But with regards to the running, I would never tell anyone to 'just work through the pain. Go ahead and run, but don't push through pain. I would only run as hard, and stride as long, as you can pain free.

Anyway, just my .02....

Yeah, thats great advice. Theres tons of articles that match what you are describing. It just didn't really work for me. Seems like like lots of different opinions on the way out of the injury.

One thing for sure, its a tough, long process to get through.

I think there is a massive mental focus in this injury, because it’s constant and impacts everything in life (sitting down/bending over to pick up the kids/riding/running) it can feel totally overwhelming.

I think if you get yourself into the mindset of not worrying about it (different to ignoring it) you are on the way.

When I first had it I tried to grind it and it definitely had massive set backs. I should have rested/stabilised it then got back on the horse.

I have HHT. Didn't notice it happen, just slowly started to bother me around August 2020. Not sure what triggered it but i did mess with my bike position (more aggressive) and cleat position (back all the way). It was also during a high loading (for me) of 1000TSS, and running some sprints 2 weeks after 2 half marathon practices in 2 weeks. Gave up on the PT after three weeks and just did the exercises. Still feel it but not as painful unless I sit on an airplane for 4 hours, or run/bike uphill hard.

Yep. Took me the better part of three years to finally get past it. Got so bad initially that I had to buy a sit/stand desk.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

Same age although three years younger when it started and this is basically how I got/am getting over mine. Worse issues was all the other little niggles that appeared as I ramped up distance and intensity along with the loss of fitness, mojo, and confidence.

Still struggling mentally to pick up training load not for fear of injury but because of apathy.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I have had it - as someone pointed out previously any tears to the proximal hamstring don’t really heal, you just have to work around them. I have on and off been dealing with it for almost 10 years, mostly able to run through albeit modified. I have completed several IMs, many marathons etc.
Here’s what doesn’t work:
Stretching
Yoga (sooo many people get injured and are told yoga is the answer to their problems- proceed with caution)

Here’s what did work:
Adjusting expectations
PT
More PT

Basically if I don’t keep up with mobility and PT exercises it will pop up and manifest somewhere else (for me, my hip or calf). I’ve gotten into a better habit of keeping up with the PT work so fingers crossed.

One more victim here.
Suffered on/off for 3 years (2016-2019) before finding a fix in 2019. Agree that stretching/yoga didn't help.
Went through 3 PTs before finding that strengthening the hamstring in isolation was key for me.
Single leg Hamstring curls started the healing. Initial strength difference was close to 50%.
Adding deadlift made it go away. Close to 100% recovered now.

I've had it twice, H Wurtele had it as well.

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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
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Yes HHT. Proximal hamstring though i think mine was the semi tendinosis (not femoral biceps).

Like "show me your ride" and the "hotties" thread, this thread needs some pictures to help identify the usual suspects in this case, the biceps femoris and semitendinosis (ie. the hamstring group), and pubic bones and sit bones, ie. inferior pubic ramus and ischeal tuberosity, the attachment point of the upper hamstring group.

Posterior view of the hamstring group, with unlabeled pelvic bones:



Side view of pelvic bones:



Front view of pelvic bones:

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

what do you think causes and effects are?

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

at the time i would have considered the cause a tight hammstring and too much speed work. But now i'd be thinking more about upstream effects of how the posterior chain was doing and what issues that might have on the hammies.

effects? you can't sit on a saddle. The scarring tends to happen at the ischial tuberosity where the hammy connects to the bone. The IT being your "sit bones" so a snub nosed saddle is completely out of the question and a regular saddle aint much better.

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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
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App