Seems there are a few of us who are suffering from hamstring issues in one form or another. Let's share info!
What's your injury?
Were you able to find a good sports ortho and/or PT?
How have you been helped?
What exercises and/or treatment plan are you following?
(Disclaimer - Unless you are actually a doctor or PT, no one here is claiming to be a doctor or PT nor to have the knowledge of either profession . . . but some of us may have recently stayed at a Howard Johnson.)
Mine is a suspected high hamstring tendi-something-or-other. No one really seems to know. It's also suspected I am suffering from ischial bursitis. MRI was inconclusive (which means it didn't show a $%@* thing).
BTW - If anyone is in the San Fran/East Bay area and all points north to the CA/OR state, or even east in the Sacramento area and north, I am desperately seeking a sports ortho with experience in these issues (as opposed to desperately seeking Susan. Unless, of course, the ortho's name is Susan.)
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Okay, I will play! This is round two with my hamstrings. The good news is I learned a lot from round 1. The bad news is this is round 2. Round 1 was tendonosis. Very nasty. My advice would to avoid it. This round looks to be a hamstring tear, or so I hope! A tear will heal a lot faster than tendonosis will.
One easy call is to use a cushion with holes in it where you hamstrings come down when sitting. fatozzig recommended this model https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V8Z8Y68/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and I have been really happy with it. Absent this, sitting for any length of time hurts like the dickens! Plus, I think sitting without the cushion further delays the healing process.
After the cushion, I guess what you do is going to depend on what you got. If you have never heard of tendonosis, think of it as scaring of the tendon. The problem is your body thinks it has healed up your tendon all fine and dandy. So it stops working on it. Somehow you have to get your body to change its mind. There is a surgery that works, but I found that getting authorized for it is not easy. I came close, but just before that was going to come through I found a PT who managed to get me fixed up! What she did was physically manipulate the tendon to essentially reinjure it and get my body to try healing it again. Roughly what the surgery would have done, but externally rather than directly with a knife.
For round 2, I am seeing the same PT. This time, however, I have also tossed in back problems. Back is getting the most attention first since it is a lot more serious (the pain keeps me up at night). Fortunately, my PT thinks that can be resolved in two or three weeks. For the tendon, lay off running until it starts to reconnect. Just do some gym exercises that involve the tendon without putting too much strain on it to encourage my body to see that healing the tendon might be a good idea. Once the tendon starts to feel better I can use an elliptical machine. News at 11.
Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.
Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way --> http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/
Great idea for a thread.
I've had a couple of bouts of hamstring stuff over my running career. In earlier years it seemed to be related to my pelvis rotating out of position. I had a great PT in Dallas who would pop it back in position and work with me in strengthening the surrounding muscles to keep it there. It could last for months before it got right. It hurt to sit and I really couldn't run.
In 2010-11 here in TN it all came back with a vengeance. Nothing seemed to help- and I had a great PT here in TN and an excellent sports ortho. I wound up getting epidural steroid injections (xray guided). The 3rd one of those was the charm and the whole thing cleared up. I had to bike and do hot yoga on and off for over a year before I could really run a lot again. I haven't had the issue again until now.
This latest bout started in April but seemed to circle my upper leg- didn't settle right in the high hamstring to start. I kept running, but the right leg felt weak and like it might collapse. My great PT had closed his practice (long, ugly story) but I found an excellet sports doc (chiro by degree, but does ART, dry needling etc) to work on me. He's right up the street from my office, which helps a lot. After a few sessions with him some of the symptoms were better but my leg was really tying up and I had to stop running on May 14. I was off for a week and it all seemed to settle down enough for me to run with just some discomfort. He really encouraged me to keep running a little.
After that it really settled into high hamstring tendinopathy. I had an xray in early May to rule out any small stress fracture and an MRI in early July. The MRI allowed for a targeted steroid shot. I (and the sports doc) think the shot did help with the inflammation. It wasn't a magic cure. I still have some discomfort. I have had about 6 rounds of dry needling, which also helps. I can run now with minimal discomfort but sitting (especially the car) can be a problem. When I first get out of bed in the morning I always feel like it is worse, but once I'm in my running shoes it feels not bad. The first mile of my run is a little bad- leg feels tight- but then it loosens up.
I'm doing exercises (bridges, one legged bridges, extending the leg on a slide while in a bridge, clamshells and monster walks sideways with an elastic band) to help strengthen the glutes so pressure is taken off of the hamstrings. Someone linked the good video to some of those exercises either on our forum or on the hamstring thread.
I'll add more if I think of anything. I'm still dealing with it.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
I have a few of these pillows. https://www.amazon.com/Total-Pillow-Microbead-Portable-Support/dp/B01ER3PN66/ref=asc_df_B01ER3PN66/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=191950313162&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3713146789994385415&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013085&hvtargid=pla-301650878149&psc=1
I put in behind my back or sit on it with the bad butt part in the hole.
2Kitty - Are you doing specific exercises for your back?
Are there any exercises either of you have specifically been told not to do while healing up? I find that after my strengthening exercises my "sit area" is especially irritated for the rest of the day. I can't do anything that "pinches" the crease area under my butt cheek (like bridges). I think it's because of the bursitis (if I actually have bursitis) or it's pinching a nerve.
I have been doing single leg Romanian deadlifts, stability ball rollouts-front (on my knees), banded hip exercises - those types of things. I've basically been having to cobble together my own recovery program because I can't find anyone here to really help me.
I have also reinstituted Dermal Traction Method (aka yapping) to work on desensitizing the nerves and have begun cupping my hamstring, glute, and crease under glute every 3 days - cupping in that I move the cup around as sort of an "inside out" massage. I don't leave it in one place for any extended period. These are techniques that instituted by my chiro and helped the first round of this mess.
My back is a long running issue so I have done back strengthening exercises for years and years. They include supermen, planks and lat pull downs.
Leslie- I can't stretch my hamstrings. It hurts the injury. I think it is important to NOT do things that hurt it. One thing the MRI ruled out for me was any bursitis, which was good. One thing that helps is something my doc calls "flushing". I haven't googled it to see if it shows how to do it. Basically you sit on a firm surface and extend one leg at a time while at the same time keeping your back straight but tipping your head back when the leg is straight out and towards your chest when the leg goes back down to 90 degrees (sitting position). Strangely, it helps. He told me to do it all day long (once an hour or so).
Hi all,
Can I play? I don't really have a hammie issue, but I think I'm dealing with ongoing muscle knots in my right glute, which manifests itself in pain that spreads to the side of my right leg (IT band?) and down to my knee. Sometimes it feels like sciatica, but I don't think that is what it is. My solution, so far, is to spend a fair amount of time rolling around on my lacrosse ball morning and night. It helps, but the discomfort has yet to go away completely. And I don't really know the cause. This appears not to be a major injury that requires the attention of a doc or PT, but I fear that it could go that way if I were to ignore it. As it is, I feel I am just keeping a little ahead of it. The lacrosse ball is one of those things that 'hurts real good,' so I do my best to tolerate it as long as I can for each session (which is not all that long). Strangely enough, this issue rarely bothers me when I am out racewalking. Go figure...
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
I forgot to mention the lacrosse ball. I sit on it at work (when I sit) and it’s good on airplanes. Tennis ball works for a lighter travel option.
I try to do my exercises twice a day. I probably don’t spend enough time on them. I hate exercises. I sometimes do some at work.
I've been concerned about using a lacrosse ball given I don't know exactly what's going on, but roll the crap outta my hammy after all workouts and sometimes just because things feel tight.
In late 2016, I let a hamstring issue go too far and ended up with major issues, to the point I basically couldn't sit unless it was on my left hip or slouched down on the couch. The up side is my employer got me a sit/stand desk, when I told them I couldn't work without the option of standing all day. The diagnosis was HHT and ischial bursitis due to my pelvis being slightly off kilter. It seems to me I let the hamstring get so inflamed it ended up rubbing against the bursa somehow. The bursitis was the absolute worst. For months, I had to be cautious of how far, when, and where I walked because the back and forth motion of the leg irritated the bursa. I describe it as feeling like there was a really big zit in that area that was constantly hot, inflamed, and pressurized, and if I could just pop it everything would go away. I also ended up with some residual nerve pain in the right side of my - eh hem - crotch area. It often would feel like someone had kicked me really hard there and it would just take me to m knees. I couldn't wear pants because the seam would always fall to that side, press on that area, and cause a tremendous amount of pain. This is where my sports chiro had me start "yapping" multiple times a day.
After pretty much no exercise for almost 8 months, things finally calmed down. I still remember when I was able to wear pants again! But I still had a bit of a "nerve" issue in the middle of my right butt cheek. It often would feel like someone was pinching me really hard just in that spot. My sports chiro (who I really like) thought that maybe the pigeon pose stretch I was doing might be pinching a nerve, so he recommended I stop and see what happened. Well, I think that stretch was the main thing keeping my pelvis in place, and about 3-4 weeks after I stopped, my problems started up again. I was doing strengthening exercises all along, but obviously not enough.
This time around, it's not nearly as bad, but I sure would like a definitive answer as to what's going on, so I'm reaching out on Facebook and wherever else I can think to try and find a good sports ortho because there isn't one here.
KSA - My chiro showed me that same move. He calls it "Flossing," but I keep forgetting to do it. I need to make myself a note.
I've been doing the strengthening exercise about 3x a week. This week I started walking again to see what happens. There's more negative response to the strength training than there was to the walking, so I don't know . . . .
Yes, Flossing (not Flushing). Walking feels pretty good for my issue this time around. I don’t think sitting on a bike would feel great, though. I hope you can get some improvement, Leslie!
Sitting on a bike would definitely suck.
Jay - Have you ever talk to someone about whatever's going on with you?
I may have a line on a sports ortho thru my inquires with out of the area running clubs. Fingers crossed!
Interestingly, I have more pain and irritation after my core/ST workout than when I do my walk/run (mostly walk).
Anyway - I connected with a runner in Redding, CA (about 2 hrs east of me) who has referred me to a doc over there who she's worked with in the past with success. Fingers crossed!
That's good news. I hope you can get some solutions.
Can I join this exclusive group? I think it's great that those of us dealing with the same problems have some ideas to share. And - as they always say - misery loves company.
I've had back issues forever. I had a disk herniation at L5-S1 and surgery on that in 2011 with strict orders from the surgeon for no more long distance running. Several half marathons, 3 Tough Mudders and a bunch of 10 and 5k races later, I guess you could say I'm not a "compliant patient" Fast forward to a major back flare-up in February of this year. Not being smart enough to stop, I thought I could run through it with good stretching and lots of exercise for the affected area. Now, for the last few months, I've developed butt pain and hamstring issues. I finally went to a spine doctor who did lots of MRI's, x-rays, etc. My lower back is a mess, but I did get some relief from cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory meds and dry needling. Unfortunately, the hamstring/butt issue continues to be a problem. An MRI of that area showed high hamstring tendonitis with a tear in the upper hamstring. I had a needle fenestration procedure done, which is kind of like dry needling except the doctor just took one big needle, stuck it in my hamstring and moved it around trying to cause bleeding which is supposed to help the healing process. No major progress to report. It hurts to sit more than 5 or 10 minutes and I have to get up and move around. I've been faithful with all of the exercises I've been given - a lot of the ones y'all are doing - but I'm not seeing any relief. The next step is a PRP Procedure, which involves extracting blood platelets and injecting them via real-time ultrasonography into the hamstring. This procedure is not covered by insurance, and the sports doc I saw said their clinic is "pretty reasonable" with an out-of-pocket cost of $500. If that doesn't work, surgery is the last hope. And the doctor didn't recommend this "at my age" Thanks a lot!
I guess, at this point, I'm as frustrated and miserable as the rest of you. At least you're all younger and your chances of a full recovery are a lot better than mine.
Just had to vent. Thanks for starting this post. It's been interesting seeing the steps everyone is taking to try and heal this rotten part of our body.