Tweaked Hamstring Advice

I know this is in the wrong forum but I don’t have enough post to put it anywhere else. So feel free to move this wherever it may belong.

Well I pulled my hamstring back in mid November pretty bad playing basketball, and stayed off of it until the pain went away about 3 weeks to a month after. I haven’t done much running or stretching since I hurt it but the pain has been gone up until today. I went to the gym, stretched a little and half way through my first basketball game It started hurting again and I decided to stop playing.

My pain level is about a 5 (1-10). I can walk fine for the most part. It hurts a little but I can jog. I can really sprint or cut without it hurting pretty bad.

Here are my questions I’m hoping you guys can answer:

1. I’m icing it now, when should I start putting heat on it?

2. When should I start stretching again and doing some light jogging?

3. How should I go about rehabilitating it so I can be on it a quick as I can?

4. When do you think Ill be able to play basketball again 100%?

5. Any other ways you can think of to heal it as fast as possible.

Normally I wouldn’t bother you guys about a silly hamstring, but I start a basketball tourney in about 2 weeks so I need it healed!

Thanks in advance.

1. Don’t use heat while there is still any active inflammation. There is no harm in just sticking with cold throughout, but if you want to use heat after the inflammation is gone you can do that after the first week or so. I would still advise using a routine of cold then heat then finish with cold.

2. At a ‘walking OK’ pain level, you can start stretching it straight away, but very, very gently. The reason it pulled again this time was probably because you did not stretch it during rehab last time. It will have formed scar tissue, which draws healing tissue together, but at the same time shortens the tissue. During healing you need to make sure the scar tissue forms at full length and that the fibres of the scar tissue are in a nice, parallel order. So you need to gently stretch.

Just take the stretch to where you can just feel the slightest discomfort, then relax into the stretch until you don’t feel the discomfort any more. Deepen the stretch slightly to just feel it again and relax into it until you don’t feel it. Repeat a third time. Be very gentle, and you can do that three times a day.

3. Before you do the gentle stretching, sitting on a chair with your knee at 90 degrees and your foot on the floor, without letting your foot move, imagine dragging your heel towards the chair. This will create an isometric contraction in the hamstrings. You can do this 3x a day before the stretching. You will have to gauge for yourself how hard (don’t cause pain, but mild discomfort is OK), and how many reps (if it feels more sore for more than a minute or so after you finish, you have done too much).

4. No one can tell you that unless you are in front of them!

5. Follow the isometric contractions/stretch/ice (or ice/heat/ice) for a few days to begin with. There is vast amounts more information here (go to right of page and click on ‘hip and thigh’ under A to Z of injuries) on further rehab. Now I’m wondering why I typed all that when I could just have given you the link!

Hope it gets better quickly.

Iv torn my hammy very bad, worst thing you can do is heat it right now. What you need to do is keep 20 mins of ice on it and 20 off (take proper precautions), do it few times a day. After about 3-4 days start heat and ice, 20mins ice 20 mins heat. Few days after that, start LIGHT jogging (flat surface), don’t stretch your hammy before hand as that might hurt it again and that should also tell you how light I mean. Ice after the jog and now do some light stretching, and don’t even test yourself by sprinting. You can massage in the following manner: grab-squeeze-pull, be sure not to do it too hard. Let me tell you before I forget the reason why you hurt it again is because you never properly rehab’d it, generally you need 3 weeks off, and 3 weeks strengthening it. If you keep on falling on this path you’ll develope scar tissue in your hammy. Also get yourself a pair of compression shorts for your jogs and games. You could also try taking ib profien (spelling). If it were me and that tourney isn’t that important I would skip it. There is also this other stretch you can do I think it’s called PNF stretching. For this you’ll need a partner and be properly warmed up, what you do in this stretch is you lie on back, leg(straight) is held by your partner they bring it back towards the direction of your head until you feel a stretch, then you hold it there for 10 seconds and then push(lightly) with your hammy in the opposing direction of your head. Then bring your leg down slightly so there is now stretch on it and then repeat but this time you should be able to stretch it further than before.

Here is what I’m talking about with the PNF stretches.

http://www.scri bd.com/doc/2280 … Gluteal-Stretch

You can do the PNF stretches with a towel around your foot also, if you don’t have a partner.

Hey thanks you guys for all the great advice.

It feels a little better today. Slim to no pain when walking. But when I am just sitting in my chair and move it around, it just feels sore. I plan one lifting later today (arms of course) and after that I plan on stretching it a little, ice, heat, and then ice again. I will also do the same right before I go to bed tonight. I am in college, so walking long distances on it is inevitable but oh well.

Also I was wondering how much tension skiing would put on the hamstring. I had a ski trip planned this Saturday, and I still plan on making the trip if my hamstring is feeling better by then. I am getting a “sleeve” for the hamstring to slide over it and support it during activity, and I am hoping that it will support it during skiing. Any thoughts?

Thanks fellas.

Glad it’s feeling a little better. If you have to do any skiing cross-country or anything not ‘gravity assisted’, it will be very hard work on the hamstrings. A good compression support may well help, but be very cautious and remember that you are carrying the injury, because the adrenaline release of skiing will block out the pain.

I plan on doing mostly downhill skiing, maybe a little cross-country style for the sole purpose of getting to the top of the hill from the ski lift drop off. I am hoping that balancing on the skis on the way down won’t be too stressing on the hamstring, but my concern is taking sharp turns. Thanks for your advice, I’ll be sure to be cautious.