So, I’m at mile 3 of my planned 7 mile run. I’m going at a relatively easy pace, about 8:30/mile. Going slightly downhill when my right hamstring twinges. It doesn’t register that its my hamstring, and then it twinges hard, and I stop. Sure enough, my hammy is killing me, and it hurts just to walk home. I iced with a bag of frozen french fries wrapped in a towel (which works pretty darn well, actually) and pop 4 motrin. Today, its a little sore when I initially start walking, but I can walk without too much pain or a limp, and it seems to get a bit better the more I move around.
So, my questions…I’ve had two hamstrings injuries this year…once to my left leg, and now to my right. WTF? I last hurt my hamstring (left leg) back in 2000, but since then have been injury free. I was wearing Karhu running shoes, but this is like the 10th run or so in them…no issues beforehand. Just got some new Newtons and have put some miles in those recently, but same thing…I’ve put in hundreds of miles in Newtons with no problems. Are there any particular reasons why I would injure my hamstring? And no, I didn’t stretch beforehand, but I have never, ever stretched before any exercise, and haven’t had a problem in my life for the most part, remaining remarkably injury free. I did go fairly easy the first couple of miles…an 8:50 pace for the first two miles, and was just starting to ramp up the pace.
Next question…what’s the best way to rehab this bad boy? I am 51 days out from IM Wisconsin, and was just beginning to ramp up my run mileage after slowly coming back from my left hamstring injury. My thoughts were easy, flat bike rides this weekend, followed by pool-only workouts this week, before attempting to run next Sunday (over a week off from running). Does that seem reasonable, or should I also avoid the bike?
you shouldn’t stretch before exercising, stretch after. you should warmup before hand though if it is a strenous workout. I have come to the conclusion I need to use the tp ball / foam roller or yoga multiple times a week or I will get injured. You may be the same way.
Everyone is different, and trying to diagnose an injury via the interwebs is dicey at best.
Having said that, I was shown by an orthopod that my personal hamstring issues were likely due to really tight hamstrings and especially hip flexors that threw my spine/hips out of whack, thus putting a lot of stress on my hamstrings (and back). By diligently stretching my hip flexors, I’ve avoided the hamstring injuries that I’ve had in the past.
I did find that I could ride quite hard even with a slight hamstring tear. Whether that slowed my recovery, I can’t say.
Don’t mess with hamstring injuries. I would give it at least 2 weeks without running, and then start running a mile at a time, slowly ramping up the mileage. But I’m a sprint triathlete, so I put different stresses on my legs than you IMers.
I’ll take a look at hip flexor stretches, and see it that helps. I think you’re probably right about the running…much as I want to get back into the groove, I’ll probably just re-injure it and put myself a week behind.
I agree that the “Interwebs” diagnosis is a dubious approach, but almost all hamstring injuries are due to weakness and not tightness, believe it or not. And I, too, think stretching beforehand is a prelude to injury. Stretch after exercise or warm up for 20 minutes at low intenity before stretching.
I got a hamstring issue during a track workout several weeks ago and then rested it for two weeks, then after only a couple days running I got Mad Calf disease in the same leg and that has been lingering for almost 3 weeks now (because I raced on it after one week.)
I hate it mostly because I have been injury free all my life.
I have had a couple of hamstring and calf issues over the past couple of years. After the experience of physical therapy all of those times, I have become religious about foam rolling / trigger point stuff. For the easy, relatively pain free 15 minutes it takes in front of the TV at night I have significantly less problems.
All that being said, you could definitley go for the foam roller / TP stuff right now. If it was me, I would go to my physical therapist to get a correct diagnosis, probably get scraped a few times over a couple of weeks and be back to running after a week or so.
Yes, I agree…asking for this sort of thing via the web probably isn’t the brightest. But, OTOH, since I have military Tri-care for health care as a military retiree, I would first have to make an appointment with my primary care doc, who would then tell me just to rest it, and would probably resist sending me to a specialist. Getting the first appointment would take a couple of days, and seeing the specialist after getting a referral from the primary care doc would take at least a couple more days. So I’m looking at a week, easy, before an actual ortho could take a look at me, and more than that to have any sort of actual tests or anything beyond an office visit done. By that time, if I’m careful, I could possibly already be pain free. Thus my post here to see if anyone else has had similar experiences.
Any good exercises you can recommend for strengthening the hamstring?