To start, I feel for you. This thing really sucks. The best advice I can give would be to do things very differently than I did. I kept doing a little riding and a little running as I tried to recover from this and I think it really increased the time for recovery. Much more importantly, it caused me to develop some very, very bad, deeply ingrained movement patterns as a result of compensations from the injury, scar tissue, etc. If I had it to do over again, the one thing I would do is stop running or riding cold turkey until you can do so not only without any pain but without any alterned movement patterns. To give you and idea, I have been back to racing the last 3 years but these bad movement patterns took me from a guy who did HIMs in 4:35-4:45 range in 2007-2008 and never got injured to now where I am in the 5:10-5:20 range and have several niggling issues in my hips,calves, etc. It is really starting to move back in the right direction for me recently but it has been a long long road. This road may involve no running or riding for several months which seems crazy but otherwise you might get set back several years. The PRP was good in that it forced me to take more time off. Hard to say if it healed the hamstring faster, it was no silver bullet to be sue but it certainly did not hurt the process, either. The second key to beating this thing is get a really, really good PT who has dealt with the issue before and who you trust. I was living overseas at the time and did not have access to a good sports PT and it really hurt me as I went from one practicioner to the next and tried a million things that were useless.
In sum, give it more time than you think, don’t train through it even a little and get the very best PT in your area and do everything he says (and nothing else). Good luck.
Thanks for your prompt response. X-rays show a rather substantial anterior pelvic rotation. I just started seeing a chiro to help rotate pelvis back and relieve the tension on proximal hamstring tendons. He also specializes in ART; hoping to get some relief with that. I’m also starting an earlier poster’s protocol of glute and core strengthening in the first few weeks then gradually working my way up to hamstring specific isometric and eccentric exercises. Right now I just want to be able sit down on those sit bones pain free.
Any additional thoughts on recovery protocol?
Hopefully this isn’t a permanent issue … I’m only 39, I hope to have many more years of riding and running ahead .
Mine comes and goes and I find the more I stretch it the longer it hurts. I also stopped stretching, grinding it with a lacrosse ball, and don’t roll it anymore. Literally I do nothing for it. It’s still there but I can do pretty much anything I want run/bike wise. Doc said it’s probably here to stay so learn what works and does not work. He also said to leave it alone. No ice, stretch, etc.
My single best way for dealing with it is running with shoes that have at least a 9mm+ heel. Anything below that I it makes it worse. Newtons are around 6mm and they give me mucho problems. Really, anything that looks like a race flat. I’m running in the Adidas Boost now 9-10mm heel and life is great.
I was diagnosed with this exactly one year ago. This past Sunday I ran a 12 minute PR @ Chicago. It took every bit of that year in between, for the problem to resolve… and it’s still not completely resolved. It will probably always be there, but I deal with it. The only thing I do, is foam roll the area. That seems to help.
Does anyone else have a hard time driving with this? It’s my right leg, and driving seems to be where I feel the pain the worst. Something about stepping on the gas pedal. Very wierd.
I am a sprinter/mid-distance runner who happened to see this site a month ago after failed rehab over 9 months. I have had MRI that showed proximal hamstring tendon tear. PT with needling and eccentric strengthening, chiro with ART and graston and two rounds of PRP, the last 1.5 months ago. Then 2nd MRI 1.5 months ago showed healed tear.
Pardon me for jumping in…but…
I’ve been dealing with moderate pain and weakness in my left hammy for a while. Been doing PT, chiro, etc - and everyone’s told me it was OK to run easy and do yoga, so I’ve been doing that. Plus a slew of rehab exercises.
I asked my ortho for an MRI, since everyone seems to disagree on whether it’s hamstring origin, sciatica, or something else.
Just got the results back this afternoon. It’s Friday afternoon, and so though I sent the results to my PT and called my ortho, I don’t expect to hear back until next week.
Results are:
“There is edema within the left hamstring tendon origin with trace fluid signal intensity
at the attachment to the ischial tuberosity. There is also mild adjacent soft tissue edema.
Findings are compatible with a lowgrade
partial tear.”
Any of you experienced people have any insight into how significant a finding this is? Based on this, should I be shutting things down for the weekend? Or should I go ahead with my normal rehab routine.
One other thought I was reminded of by another post: don’t stretch it. It feels like you want to stretch it out but I learned the hard way that doing so just reaggavates it endlessly. Your program sounds good, just be careful of the timing. Heal first, then loosen and only then try to strengthen. The only thing you can be sure of in terms of timing is that each stage will take alot longer than you want it to but you can’t rush it otherwise you go back to square one. For me (I was 39, too when this hit me) the hamstring eventually healed only when I let it rest enough so I’d hold off on any hamstring strengthening exercises until you have zero pain. Instead focus on rollling and stretching the glutes/quads/hip flexors to deal with the tilt that caused it in the first place (and which will cause it to come back if untreated). I’d also look at daily postural issues and pelvic symmetry on the bike (that’s where I am focused now) as you get back to training so you re-learn to move in a natural way with the right muscles firing at the right times.
good luck!
Jack
How long did you rest before your hamstrings started feeling better? Wondering how long I should rest before getting into week 1-2 protocol of rubber band work targeting glutes, hamstring ball curls, planks, wobble board, good mornings, etc.
Also, did you ever get into the pool to help with cardio? Or is that not hamstring friendly? Not doing anything for the next few months is very, very daunting.
It looks like this was the only thread TTC posted on and is now history.
Wobble board exercises depend on how good your balance is and what type of board you are using. But in order of difficulty, these are what I’ve done:
Just get on it
get on it and look at ceiling
get on it with eyes shut
put one foot in middle and balance
one foot in middle and look at ceiling
one foot in middle with eyes shut
one foot in middle with eyes shut and look at ceiling
Does anyone else have a hard time driving with this? It’s my right leg, and driving seems to be where I feel the pain the worst. Something about stepping on the gas pedal. Very wierd.
I started to experience this back in July and by far the worst pain is when I am driving. A couple times a month I have to drive for 3 hours straight, I cant believe how uncomfortable it is. I try and use cruise control as much as possible and actually place an empty water bottle under my right hamstring/glute to help relieve some of the stress.
I bought a doughnut from the drug store. Actually I bought 3. One for my car, one for work to sit on and one for home. It seems that sitting on a doughnut reduces the compression on the area where my hamstring hurts and allows for better and faster healing.
Best of luck with this one, not easy. I always recommend a Feldenkrais session or two (no, I’m not a Feldenkrais practitioner, it just works for me) because for most chronic problems of this type the strain starts somewhere other than in the site of the pain. Feldenkrais fixed my knee, where all others failed (massage, PT, acupuncture, doctors with cortisone, chiropracters, coaches - though they each have their place, and I appreciate them), by determining the remote (by location and time) of the source of my debilitating running-induced knee pain. Got me back on the road to regular Ironman and marathon training, and never looked back as far as that knee was concerned, but I’m always working on something or other to keep these old bones moving as fast as I can. Wishing you well, Kevin aka FitOldDog
Go to the Drug Store and get yourself a Dough Nut to sit on while driving. I have three of them. One for my car, one for home and one for work. You want to prevent compression of the glute area as much as possible when-ever sitting. The only draw back is that you have to explain to everyone who asks about the Dough Nut that it is for a hamstring pull and not hemorrhoids.
Interesting. I’m actually sitting on a kneeling chair for work (I work from home), and it seems very comfortable for the hammy. I’m thinking that that’s because the hip is at a more open angle with this set up, and so the tendon isn’t being pressed while also being stretched.
darkwave - what have your docs, PT’s, etc recommended based on your “low grade tear” findings? My MRI in July indicated “fluid at both proximal hamstring tendons” which “may indicate partial tears”. I dropped running in July and have scaled way back on biking. Dropped out from two races. Months of PT and a steroid injection and I’m still not feeling any better. Going to speak with sports medicine DO about PRP injections next week. @ $600 ea., not an inexpensive option. but at this point, I just want *something *to start the healing process and relieve the pain .
Ortho: I’d just stick to swimming only until it stops hurting. However long that takes. I don’t think PT is necessary, but you can go there if you want.
PT: This MRI isn’t matching what we’re seeing clinically. It’s fine to do nothing but swimming for a week, but then I want you to try some easy jogs and see how it feels. He’s also been doing dry needling, and gave me some eccentric exercises.
I also ran it by a teammate who is a PT - she wasn’t that worried about my MRI, and commented that there were probably a lot of people out there with some sort of tear in their hamstring tendon that were asymptomatic.
I am still not back to where I want and plan to be but I would say the most important things I learned are: 1 stop training until it heals; 2 be very careful coming back so you don’t develop unhealthy compensatory movement patterns; and 3 get the best PT you can find so you can understand the imbalances that lead to the issue in the first place so it does not happen again
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What factors did you and the doctor weigh in to come to PRP conclusion? What is PRP recovery / rehab protocol? I’ve considered this as well, but @ $600/ea, not a cheap option. I’m currently seeing Dr. who specializes in ART. Hoping to see some relief soon.