I had a similar issue in May of last year and life demands had me stop cycling for a few months and when I started back I had no problem. My left lateral hamstring tendon is flaring up and very sore the days after riding. I didn’t increase too much or move my seat because I had been doing the same amount of riding. Now that I had the pain I lowered my seat and moved it back slightly but I still have pain today after riding yesterday. Is it just residual aggravation or should I lower more? I don’t stretch religiously but I do stretch, and can’t afford a fit at the moment. Is there anything I can do to continue training and fix this??
Anyone?
Had similar problems, went to the bike fit doctor. He lowered my saddle (a lot), told me to mellow out for a bit and stretch my Hams and Glutes after run or bike. No problems since.
I had a similar issue in May of last year and life demands had me stop cycling for a few months and when I started back I had no problem. My left lateral hamstring tendon is flaring up and very sore the days after riding. I didn’t increase too much or move my seat because I had been doing the same amount of riding. Now that I had the pain I lowered my seat and moved it back slightly but I still have pain today after riding yesterday. Is it just residual aggravation or should I lower more? I don’t stretch religiously but I do stretch, and can’t afford a fit at the moment. Is there anything I can do to continue training and fix this??
Which part of the tendon? Attachment at the knee or at the hip? If its at the hip be aware of possible bursitis or sacral tendon inflammation. If your position is off then you could be making your iscial tubes or tissue around there angry. And if you do have a muscle or tendon flared up then it won’t magically go away if you fix or remove the aggravating factor. That (with rest) will hopefully not allow it to get worse. But it may take a couple days or weeks to settle down.
Get your stretch on too!
Have someone check your fit and stretch hips and hamstrings, a lot! Rest is good, but my pain did not go away until I received a Cortisone shot. Instant pain relief. If you do not find the cause, it will return.
I had a similar issue in May of last year and life demands had me stop cycling for a few months and when I started back I had no problem. My left lateral hamstring tendon is flaring up and very sore the days after riding. I didn’t increase too much or move my seat because I had been doing the same amount of riding. Now that I had the pain I lowered my seat and moved it back slightly but I still have pain today after riding yesterday. Is it just residual aggravation or should I lower more? I don’t stretch religiously but I do stretch, and can’t afford a fit at the moment. Is there anything I can do to continue training and fix this??
Which part of the tendon? Attachment at the knee or at the hip? If its at the hip be aware of possible bursitis or sacral tendon inflammation. If your position is off then you could be making your iscial tubes or tissue around there angry. And if you do have a muscle or tendon flared up then it won’t magically go away if you fix or remove the aggravating factor. That (with rest) will hopefully not allow it to get worse. But it may take a couple days or weeks to settle down.
Get your stretch on too!
It is the attachment at my knee on the lateral side which attaches to the head of my fibula. I have been icing and stretching non stop for 3 days now and it feels a lot better, but then again this is what I did a week before that and it was in pain again after my next ride.
So I basically think I just have hamstring tendonitis on my left side so i have been stretching every day, and icing and taking NSAIDs and the discomfort/pain has not subsided one bit. It seemed like it was and then this morning it is just as bad as ever. Should I not be stretching until it is fully healed? Is there anything else that can help? (I would go see doc but I am a broke college student so I dont really have the money right now)
Stretching religiously is not an option if you do any serious volume of training. You must stretch religiously. Stretching is what prevents problems such as hamstring tendon flare-ups. The good news is that once you get to an adequate level of flexibility, the amount of stretching requiring to maintain that flexibility is less, in my experience. I used to stretch 30-45 minutes a day when I started. After about 6 weeks, I finally got to a point where any more flexibility would be of no benefit. Since then, I’ve been able to maintain that flexibility with only about 15 minutes of stretching a day. However, when I’m in competition training, I do bump up the time spent stretching just to be safe.
Your left leg hamstring tendon might be flaring up if your saddle is too high and you have a shorter right leg. As your right leg hits the bottom of the pedal stroke, your hips will be rocking to the right, and the lateral side of your left leg will be consequently stretching out, putting great stress on the tendon, the ITB band, etc. That’s a recipe for disaster over the medium-long term.
Having experienced the same problem early in my cycling career, I stopped riding and reduced the inflammation with nsaids and ice. Once the inflammation was gone, I commenced my 6-week stretching routine. Once I hit full flexibility, I got back on the bike slowly and had no problems going forward. I also addressed muscle imbalances in the lower leg which are common among cyclists and runners (weak hams, weak medial glutes, weak medial quads, etc.).
I learned quickly, early on, that endurance sports are serious business. Maintaining the body in perfect balance is a prerequisite.
Stretching religiously is not an option if you do any serious volume of training. You must stretch religiously. Stretching is what prevents problems such as hamstring tendon flare-ups. The good news is that once you get to an adequate level of flexibility, the amount of stretching requiring to maintain that flexibility is less, in my experience. I used to stretch 30-45 minutes a day when I started. After about 6 weeks, I finally got to a point where any more flexibility would be of no benefit. Since then, I’ve been able to maintain that flexibility with only about 15 minutes of stretching a day. However, when I’m in competition training, I do bump up the time spent stretching just to be safe.
Your left leg hamstring tendon might be flaring up if your saddle is too high and you have a shorter right leg. As your right leg hits the bottom of the pedal stroke, your hips will be rocking to the right, and the lateral side of your left leg will be consequently stretching out, putting great stress on the tendon, the ITB band, etc. That’s a recipe for disaster over the medium-long term.
Having experienced the same problem early in my cycling career, I stopped riding and reduced the inflammation with nsaids and ice. Once the inflammation was gone, I commenced my 6-week stretching routine. Once I hit full flexibility, I got back on the bike slowly and had no problems going forward. I also addressed muscle imbalances in the lower leg which are common among cyclists and runners (weak hams, weak medial glutes, weak medial quads, etc.).
I learned quickly, early on, that endurance sports are serious business. Maintaining the body in perfect balance is a prerequisite.
I was just meaning should I be stretching now before the inflammation heals, but you addressed that. When you say “once the inflammation was gone”, are you referring to once the tendon stopped being tender to the touch (it is painful when touching the attachment at the head of the fibula)… how long after?
I can’t say that I recall my tendon being tender to the touch. I’m pretty sure that the pain was present only when descending stairs, climbing stairs (but only a little pain), and of course, if I tried to cycle.
I knew the inflammation was gone once the knee could fully flex smoothly and without pain. That same day, I started stretching.
So I basically think I just have hamstring tendonitis on my left side so i have been stretching every day, and icing and taking NSAIDs and the discomfort/pain has not subsided one bit. It seemed like it was and then this morning it is just as bad as ever. Should I not be stretching until it is fully healed? Is there anything else that can help? (I would go see doc but I am a broke college student so I dont really have the money right now)
Sorry to say that it might be a stubborn case of tendinitis that has degenerated into a tendinopathy. These old strains are tough to treat because of scarring. Icing and NSAIDs don’t work because the condition is probably no longer inflammatory. So, what you have could be called “distal (attachment at knee) biceps femoris (lateral hamstring) tendinopathy.” Unfortunately, ordinary stretching is not optimal therapy either. Consider hamstring eccentric exercises such as the Nordic curl. Good luck!
And I should start doing that even while I still have tenderness? Is that enough to make it subside over time?.. how long, and should I do anything else with it?
I’ve had this exact issue. It came and went to varying degrees for months. Then finally I got sick of it and quit all training for four months. It didn’t go away. I tried a lot of things, but nothing would quite eliminate it all the way. I finally gave in and got some Voltaren (diclofenac) gel. Applied that a few times a day for 2 weeks and combined with a specific stretch, it went away.
The stretch that finally did the trick was stretching the hamstrings while sitting flat on the floor. Knees locked and flat on the floor while bending forward and pulling my toes back toward my body. I did this for a few (15 or 20 or so) seconds for 3 or 4 reps a couple of times per day. I was very inflexible in the hamstrings but in particular I noticed that on the affected side that I had a hard time pulling my foot toward my body. I would feel a lot of tension smack in the middle of the back of the knee when pulling my foot back with the knee locked out. The unaffected side was not nearly as bad. So I worked on that hamstring/foot stretch until both legs balanced out, massaged the head of the fibula lightly a few times per day, and did the Voltaren gel thing for a couple of weeks. It finally got better after 6 months of misery.
Also try not to sit for long periods. The pressure on my hamstrings would pull on that tendon and make it flare up. If I sat for a couple of hours (desk job) then stood up, I would almost collapse in pain right when my knee straightened out. That was very annoying!
I had the same symptoms for several months. It didn’t go away on it’s own, regardless of stretching. In fact stretching probably made it worse.
Eventually MRI revealed tendinopathy of biceps femoris at fibula head. Doc thought it wouldn’t go away on it’s own, and gave me a cortisone shot. I rested for 10 days, then started to do eccentric hamstring exercises on a yoga ball, as well as other glute exercises. Within 3 weeks I was running with no pain and haven’t had any recurrences in the last 3 years, but I have kept up the exercises.
If you go the cortisone route, know the risks…they can cause rupture in tendons, and other issues in some people. Good luck!
And I should start doing that even while I still have tenderness? Is that enough to make it subside over time?.. how long, and should I do anything else with it?
Eccentric exercise training for an existing tendinopathy is usually painful (up to 7/10). Check the Nordic Curl program used in this study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22341384
Good post from jclarkNZ
Finally an appropriate thread to just scream YOUR SEAT IS TOO HIGH, and no one does? (or did I miss it somewhere?) Definitely a simplistic answer, but much like for running where the first thing you should probably do when you develop an injury is get a new pair of running shoes, when you have posterior knee pain on the bike, dropping the saddle a bit can be such a quick fix.
K.I.S.S.
It is only on the left side, and I have dropped the saddle so low to the point where I can feel that it is too low and there was no change… going any lower will just cause a new set of problems.
I don’t know if this is at all helpful, but my aunt has an Arjohuntleigh flowtron 3 machine and full leg sleeve to promote circulation in the leg… Will using that help recovery for me from injury in the legs and even just general soreness from training as well? I mean if its here and it will help I might as well use it, so if anyone knows please let me know?
Thanks for posting this. I started doing them last night. I can see how they would be beneficial. They are pretty brutal, but they feel great on the hammies!
Thanks for posting this. I started doing them last night. I can see how they would be beneficial. They are pretty brutal, but they feel great on the hammies!
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