Hamstring injury advice requested

[geocad]

My muscles have amnesia! My first night out at the dojong after an 8 year absense resulted in a hamstring pull or tear. I know I should have taken it easy but I thought the hour before was enough of a warm-up. I did it doing a spinning back kick. My pivot leg locked resulting in almost a hyper extended knee, but instead causing the hamstring injury.I decided to take the rest of the night off and massage and walk it off. One of the instructors said that I would benefit more if I continued to workout but just take it easy. My question is this... What should I do in order to heal my hamstring quickly and does working out but taking it easy really benefit me?I was always of the opinion that I should rest an injury but a 2nd or 3rd dan instructor said I should continue to move around on it.Thanks for your helpful medical advice regarding this injury. If you have any related injury stories to share I would like to hear how you dealt with it. ~G

 

[Shuto]

I don't have a severe injury but my hamstring has been aching me for a couple months. I've started wrapping it in an ace bandage when I worked out but didn't seem to help, at least not very much. I now wear the bandage whenever I'm on my feet and I also heat my hamstring with a heating pad when I get a chance. That has helped a lot but the discomfort quickly returns when I stop wearing the bandage for even three or for hours. I'm thinking this will be a long term recovery similar to tendonitis.

My treatment is not based upon any authoritative advice. I'm interested in hearing what other have to say as well.

 

[Nomad]

I've had a severe hamstring sprain / minor tear in the past, and it was very painful (lesson learned... don't try to head kick someone in sparring after an hour of back stance drills and kata).

I think I took about a week off of martial arts to rest it, then started back in... using very high stances at first and basically walking through. After a short period of time, I found that the karate workouts really didn't hurt it or make it worse, and in fact helped stretch it and work out the stiffness.

What DID hurt like heck was sitting in the car and/or driving. After about 20 minutes in the car, my hamstring was in complete agony, though once I walked around on it a little it would go away fairly quickly. This continued for at least 6-8 months, which makes me think the injury was of the relatively severe variety.

Just my 2 cents of course... your mileage may vary!

 

[Dave Leverich]

I had one about a year ago, went a little too agro on an axe kick on an opponent without enough warm-up.

Took me about 6-8 weeks to feel fully 'back' from that one. Get a neoprene brace to help warm the muscle and very slowly work on getting that flexibility back into the muscle. It's NOT going to be a fast recovery unless you're under 25 and still immortal .

Good luck with it, talk to sports medicine professional, as I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

 

[geocad]

Thanks for the responses! Unfortunately the time it took you all to recover is not very encouraging. So it sounds like a few days off and then return to light training to keep loose is what has worked for some of you and others on other forum sites.

Do any of you remember the actual feeling of the stretch or tear? Mine felt like a pull but with some popping in the muscles. My hamstring actually twitched during the pull. As for the sitting in the truck or other seats where the edge is directly under your hamstring, I totally understand. As for my age, I'm not that old (38) but last night I felt like I was 70. Thanks again! ~G

 

[zDom]

I found that isotonics (tensing the muscle area that was injured) helped rehabilitate my hamstring injuries.

Supposedly this promotes "crosshatching" of muscle fibers, making a new tear in that area (same place or just above or below the first tear) less likely.

Seems to have worked fine for me.

I wish you a speedy recovering and successful rehab!

 

[Nomad]

Thanks for the responses! Unfortunately the time it took you all to recover is not very encouraging. So it sounds like a few days off and then return to light training to keep loose is what has worked for some of you and others on other forum sites.

Do any of you remember the actual feeling of the stretch or tear? Mine felt like a pull but with some popping in the muscles. My hamstring actually twitched during the pull. As for the sitting in the truck or other seats where the edge is directly under your hamstring, I totally understand. As for my age, I'm not that old (38) but last night I felt like I was 70. Thanks again! ~G

I remember being in some intense pain immediately after the injury, but thinking that it wasn't so bad and being able to "walk it off" and participate (at a much lower energy level) for the remainder of class.

Then I went to get in the car and screamed (very literally).

Go see a doctor (pref. one that specializes in sports injuries as some GP's can be pretty clueless on these things) and look into doing some physiotherapy... it definitely helps.

Good luck, and for reference, I'm turning 37 this year, and this happened about 3 years ago. I think I now have the joints of a 62 year old, but fortunately this is balanced by my 12 year old mind...

 

[Logan]

I think that these type of questions always merit two bits of advice
(a) Go see a physio/Doctor.
(b) Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Not neccessarily in that order...

If the injury is not too severe, I would rest it for a bit and do some gentle stretching if that helps alleviate the pain. Light exercise can help the healing process but I would think that you need to rest first. Jumping straight back into training would likely just aggrevate it further. Sometimes when you get an injury there is a delayed response with just how severe it is - you could probably keep training but pay for it later.

 

[geocad]

Thanks for the continued advice. 5 days later and it's still a bit sore. I went to class on Wednesday but did not throw any fast/powerful kicks but did try to do some of them slow and low. That movement was also quite painful.

The pain now seems concentrated up high and towards the groin. Sitting at my computer at work (legs bent 90 degrees) still causes a bit of pain. I feel it the most when I squeeze my knees together while sitting at my desk. But this time the pain is near my groin and not at the back of my leg (hamstring).

Anyone else felt the pain here after their initial injury?

~G

 

[CanuckMA]

Hamstring injuries take time.

As a rule, whenever an instructor tells you what to do with an injury, ask for his medical degree. Whenever your doctor offers advice on a MA technoque, ask where and how long he's been training.

 

[geocad]

I messed up. I thought I was healed enough to attend class but at the slow and low level. All was fine until the instructor busted out the pads! My ego got the best of me and now I'm paying for it all over again as if it just happened.

So do you think all leg exercises should be put on hold or just the ones that require flexability and full extensions? I'm wondering if hiking the small mountain trail near my house would be ok or not once the pain from just walking wears off. You see, when I went back to class walking or even slow and low kicks didn't hurt. Fully extended, fast, and with power caused the reinjury.

I will not be doing any kicks for at least a month. So is it worth going to class? Okay, new idea for another thread. This website is going to get me fired.

 

[qi-tah]

Thanks for the continued advice. 5 days later and it's still a bit sore. I went to class on Wednesday but did not throw any fast/powerful kicks but did try to do some of them slow and low. That movement was also quite painful.

The pain now seems concentrated up high and towards the groin. Sitting at my computer at work (legs bent 90 degrees) still causes a bit of pain. I feel it the most when I squeeze my knees together while sitting at my desk. But this time the pain is near my groin and not at the back of my leg (hamstring).

Anyone else felt the pain here after their initial injury?

~G

Yep! I tore my left hammy a couple of years ago lunging into a deep stance whilst still cold. It immediately hurt high up, just underneath my butt cheek and slightly over toward my groin. I actuallyheard/felt it rip across something hard, like bone. Once i'd got home and had a look in the anatomy textbook, i realised that the origin of the hamstring muscles, called the ischial tunerosity (bony spur on the bottom of the pelvis) was the site of the pain - i think the tendon of either semitendinosus or semimembranosus (both hammy muscles) got trapped on the wrong side of the bony origin and raked across it, tearing it in the process.

Semimembranosus seems to be the more medial of the hammy muscles, perhaps you re-injured that? Or perhaps you pulled an adductor muscle through overcompensation? One thing i would suggest is to get your injury assessed by a physio to see how bad the tear is. Then you will have a realistic idea about how soon to return to training. If you continue training on top of a tear, the likelyhood is that you will either make it worse or injure something else.

I hope you get better soon!

 

[Hawke]

Here are some tips regarding Hamstrings:


WebMD.com


Orthopedics.About.com


SportsInjuryClinic


MedicineNet

Seek profeesional medical help. These websites are to educate you only and do not replace the value from a medical professional.