Hamstring Issues

Well, I ran through an interesting hamstring injury earlier this season. I just foam rolled the hell out of it, iced it, and had it massaged. I only had it regularly massaged, not deep tissue, though deep tissue would probably be better? I also ice-whirlpooled the hammy, felt that worked as well. I'm not sure which of these helped, but I didn't change anything in my running (actually didn't taker a day off and ran a race with it). It hurt the most after the race but it got steadily better until it was gone.

I must be a special case though, I know some people who have had hamstring injuries their entire career. Hopefully yours will just be a minor case.

i strained my right hammy last track season...had to take 2 weeks off completely, and then had to ease back into running. During my time off, I did alot of icing, massaging, stretching, and then strengthening.

good luck with your injury man. hamstring strains suck

i strongly recommend active release therapy (ART). it's a form of deep-tissue-based physical therapy, often done by chiropractors. it hurts like hell while you're getting worked on, but the relief is quick and amazingly effective.

Just curious, did your or were you able to cross-train at all with your hammy strain? I don't want to lose too much fitness, but I also don't want to prolong this either by causing additional harm. Will swimming, cycling, or using the elliptical add additional stress?

i couldnt xtrain through my strain :(

Make sure to stretch each major muscle in the lower body, and work on strengthening those muscles as there might be a muscle imbalance. There's an article in Running Times w/ strength training that just came out that may be of interest, which talks about injuries and strengthening the hips. Many running injuries are from overtraining, lack of flexibility, or muscle imbalances.

Ice and massage are good. I've had luck w/ ART on plantar fasciitis, but it didn't help w/ hamstring issues. Perhaps you'll be different.