Thread: micro-tears in my hamstring

ouch- I've been having some pain and today my acupuncturist/massage therapist told me today that it's my hamstring, and most likely some microtears. It's right at the top back of my thigh- so kinda hard to ice. I suppose I could go sit in a snowbank-

I'm wondering what I can do to help this heal. I'm going to lay off over stretching, but do not want to stop moving all together. anyone have any advice? argghh. I'd really like to heal it and find out how to avoid injuring it in the future. stupid hamstring.,m::

any advice welcome-

Can you tell us more about what you were doing when the pain appeared?

I tore my hamstring at the top where it connects to the gluteus. That was over a year and half ago. Big tear and now have a lot of scaring and its always painful. Especially if I do not do a proper warm-up.

I don't have any solutions, But I'm considering trying rolfing to see if he/she can help break down the scare tissue. I still try and do the splits and am able to do them, but they are painful, and I need a lot of warming up to reduce the discomfort.

One thing I did find is that as I strengthen the hamstring the less my pain is and greater my range of motion.

Same exact experience as Angela. Tore it right at the "butt" connection in a skiing fall almost 2 years ago. Flares up if I don't warm up or if I overuse it. You CAN ice the spot but it isn't fun. I've done phys ther, accupuncture, etc. My doc says no cortisone, would compromise the remaining tendon. They tell me that the best thing is to keep my flexibility good.

that's exactly the spot. I did read today that strengthening the glute will help. I feel like I have pretty strong glutes from lots of biking, and I'm fairly flexible, so not sure how it happened. We were doing some intense partner stretching in class a few weeks ago, I just went too far... I remember thinking that it felt tight and that I wanted to stretch it out good, when in fact it was probably already tearing and I over did it.

what kind of hamstring stretches do you do?

My phys therapist had me doing the classic ones like lying on your back, pulling knee to chest, also while on your back, extending your leg up a wall with your butt as close to the wall as you can get it. She stressed keeping my calves stretched out, too. From dance class, I also do a bunch of yoga poses. All my classes are on holiday break, so I was hitting the rowing machine and managed to re-injure the #@^& again!!!!

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

I don't have any solutions, But I'm considering trying rolfing to see if he/she can help break down the scar tissue.

I've had fabulous results with my rolfer doing just that with the old car accident injury in my back. It's been almost miraculous, how much better my back is than it was 4 years ago.

However....

I don't think that what my rolfer did with my scar tissue is a "typical" thing that is taught in rolfing training. At the time she did it, she commented that it was something she had learned in a continuing education session. Her intention in doing it actually wasn't even aimed at the scar tissue, it was aimed at trying to encourage the scoliosis twist in my spine to untwist a little. So I think that, while she certainly DID loosen up a nasty knot of scar tissue and set the stage for some wonderful healing that followed, it was more of a highly beneficial side effect than an intended result.

I think it could be good to contact a rolfer in your area, describe your situation, and see what they say about your scar tissue issue. If they think they can help, then it may be worth a try.

Originally Posted by zot buffalo

While on your back, extending your leg up a wall with your butt as close to the wall as you can get it.

My rolfer recommended this one to me, and I like it a lot. I like to do it in the steam room when no one else is around. My back really likes being pressed into the hot bench.

I have some belly dance students with back pain issues from their non-dance lives, so I always incorporate this and other good-for-back-pain stretches in my cooldowns at the end of class. Everybody loves it. I keep them in this position for several breaths, to really give the muscles time to relax and let go.

hmmm.. tried that stretch...that's a good one!

I have always been a little afraid of rolphing....is it more painful than other types of body work? I do know that it's good for long term injuries- which I suspect this is- scar tissue from an old african dance teacher who had us go into a deep stretch then came along and stood on my butt to push me down further. That was in the early 90's and now that I'm remembering it, it felt a lot like this and took FOREVER to heal. So... hmm.... rolphing... I'm curious.

I also pulled a hamstring right at it's origin on the sitting bone... I kept trying to stretch whenever it felt better and therefore reinjured it several times... My advice would be to ease off on the stretching for much longer than you might *think* you need to- just because it stops hurting does not necessarily mean it is ready for stretching! Ice (which is better in the very beginning/acute phase for inflammation) and heat are not really going to go deep enough to give you much benefit. I think the main reason that it takes so long to heal there is that there is not a whole lot of blood supply between ligament and bone. Moderate to high intensity cardio might boost the blood supply a bit. You could try deep cross fiber massage if you're worried about scarring, but I don't think that would be an issue with microtears in a hamstring. The only thing I felt I could really do for mine was to avoid overstretching/reinjuring while it healed on its own. Once it finally healed, I was able to get back the flexibility I had lost.

Originally Posted by loloup

hmmm.. tried that stretch...that's a good one!

I have always been a little afraid of rolphing....is it more painful than other types of body work? I do know that it's good for long term injuries- which I suspect this is- scar tissue from an old african dance teacher who had us go into a deep stretch then came along and stood on my butt to push me down further. That was in the early 90's and now that I'm remembering it, it felt a lot like this and took FOREVER to heal. So... hmm.... rolphing... I'm curious.

For me, personally, rolfing was not particularly painful.

However....

I think it depends on the rolfer. And I also think it depends on YOU.

My rolfer also teaches yoga and practices reiki. She's amazingly empathetic, and I think that has played a major role in my experience being as positive as it is. Any time I tell her something is too intense, she backs off. I would say that in a typical 90-minute session there might be 5 or 10 minutes I would consider painful, and the rest is either merely uncomfortable or innocuous.

Regarding it depending on YOU...

Different people can tolerate different levels of pressure. If you're accustomed to getting regular deep-tissue massages and you've learned to be okay with the deep pressure, then rolfing would be fine. But if you're not used to deep pressure, you might find the rolfing too intense.

The results of the rolfing have been amazing for me. It has removed some serious long-term sources of pain, and was well worth the effort and occasional discomfort. If I had the decision to do over, I would certainly do it again.

I have always thought of rolfing as having a major emotional component as well- that during and after sessions you might have a lot of "stuff" coming up. Maybe that's what I'm afraid of- more than intense deep tissue work, is upsetting the old apple cart. I'm a chicken that way.

Originally Posted by loloup

I have always thought of rolfing as having a major emotional component as well- that during and after sessions you might have a lot of "stuff" coming up.

I can't speak to the experience that others may have had, but that was never an issue for me.