Hamstring hurts at insertion (Read 889 times)

I have slight pain in my hamstring but not the muscles right behind the knee. The discomfort is up near my buttocks, and feels a little bit deep. I just took 5 days off, stretched, iced, etc. I ran this morning and felt the discomfort for about 1.5 miles but then it somewhat lessened. Does anyone have any advice? I really don't want to take off any more time because I'm training for a marathon on the 7th of October and need to worrk up my mileage. Should I just continue to stretch and ice and see how it goes?

I've been doing a stretch where you put a towel on the arch of the foot and pull slowly down. It's an area that seems hard to stretch but if I slowly move the towel in certain directions I can feel it stretching. It's not really painful, it's more just a discomfort and I know that it's not supposed to feel that way. I am also doing a stretch where I put one leg in front of the other and bend over to touch my foot and then slowly pull back. And to answer your last question, when I try to press on the area, I don't really feel anything, no pain. It's not until I run that I start to feel it or at certain times if I'm bending a certain way, etc. Do you have any advice?

I'm NOT any kind of stretching expert, but I wonder if you can stretch it by (CAREFULLY) putting your leg up on a bench or table (about waist high) and doing a hamstring stretch (VERY CAREFULLY) in that elevated position? When I do that it seems to stetch the area you talk about... but be very careful... if it's already injured, stretching might not be the solution. I also think Trent is right about getting this checked out... it's hard for us to tell what you're dealing with. As for your October 7th marathon, it seems like it'd be better to rest (at least a bit) now and let it heal, rather than deal with a nagging chronic injury throughout your whole training! Easier said than done, of course... I'm dealing with some foot-muscle problems right now but feel the pressure to get out there and build mileage for my next marathon! Do as I say, not as I do?... Best of luck.