Dg helped me, too, last summer with deciphering a pain that seemed so hard to pinpoint the source of. So sorry Laurie, that you are going through this. You are certainly talking to a crowd who fully understand what running means to you and how hard it will be to not run. {{{hugs}}}

Debbie helped me too. I think we should start calling her "Doc".

As a non drinker, running keeps the voices in my head down to a whisper. We all hope you're good as new soon. Until then, we also hope you and your doctor can come up with an acceptable outlet.

Hi Laurie, You're quite welcome. > Months of appts, MRI, xrays and followups to find out I was seeing an arm and hand guy??!! Here are some comments from "Power Yoga", by Beryl Bender Birch, p267-8. In long distance runners "the injury is usually a tiny tear, perhaps near the origin of the muscle at the buttock bone, or somewhere along the belly of the muscle. If soreness develops slowly, it often means that the hamstring muscles are simply getting tighter and tighter from running and need to be stretched regularly. "Nearly all the standing postures and the Primary Series postures stretch the hamstrings. If you are having hamstring strains and injuries, you need regular, hot stretching ... the practice works on the back of the legs. The first few weeks, you might be a bit sore from the stretching (not from microtearing!). Slowly you will loosen up and get used to the stretching process, and actually look forward to it. "When you first tear any muscle fiber, after the requisite few days of rest and ice, you need to begin to stretch the muscle -- gently enough to avoid interrupting the healing process, but strongly enough to keep scar tissue from further shortening the muscle. The key is to make the process progressive. Each day you go a little deeper into the stretch, depending on what the muscle is telling you. As the tear heals, the stretching can become more intense. This is an excellent example of when it is pretty safe to say that nothing works quite as well as the Power Yoga workout for hamstring injuries, because of the heat. Without heat, stretching an injured hamstring is positively deadly." - - - - - A few comments on this. "Hot" and "heat" refer to the dynamic nature of the stretching, as opposed to cold stretching (a no-no). This is not a matter of being warm externally, but of doing the stretching exercises repetitively where the muscles are warm, as with running. I first practiced this due to having issues with my calves, where the tightness prevented me from running. I began doing sun salutations for 10 minutes every morning, during which time my muscles got quite warm, and my calves loosened up almost immediately. The Author mentions doing them consecutively for two hours at a time. See any time you can't run, you can do the sun salutations for the same amount of time you'd be running! Now I just do them a few times and head out for my run, though continuing the 10 minute practice would probably be much better. In the case of my tight calves and achilles, stretching the rest of my legs with the sun salutations did not stretch my calves or achilles, per se, but stretched the rest of my legs, which took the pressure off the tight areas. This is the benefit of these exercises, that they stretch all of your legs, in harmony. - - - - - I see no contradiction with using the MICE method with the sun salutations. I often ice a sore area before heading out for a run, and the same with the sun salutations. As far as I'm concerned this is still dynamic stretching and provides the heat that I'm looking for, as opposed to cold stretching trying to force the muscle. I never do that, and only stretch to where the stretching is comfortable. This is relatively easy to determine, and I usually call it "loosening" vs stretching. As mentioned above, there are many stretches in the book but the only one I have used is the sun salutation combination, plus my other usual running loosening up exercises. Below is a link that shows variations of the sun salutations. The one that I do is line 4, also often repeating just the middle two positions, back and forth. When I went through the book, I picked the exercises that suited me best. http://www.yogawithamey.com/images/sunsalutations.jpg

I just noticed you're using a heating pad, heat being one of the WORST things you could do to an injury. Heat increases inflammation, increases pain, brings blood to the surface, delays healing and prolongs the injury. Using heat is the opposite of the MICE modality. Also keep the location of the injury as dry as possible, when not running (showering) and icing. Sitting around in wet clothes or sitting in hot tubs weaken the tissues and are terrible for injuries.

Flyin, having suffered with my hamstrings for over a year now I have an idea what its like. A couple of times I've thought I'd never run again. What interested me is the comments about hot and cold as it always puzzled me how they can both work!

((Laurie))  hope your 2nd opinion helps..........if not - there are so many good doctors in Boston and surrounding areas if it comes to that  .......... keep us posted and try to stay positive!!