Hamstring Scar Tissue

Yo dude! Good news! I actually had a hamstring strain that took me out for a solid year, after learning to roll out the area, avoid stretching my injury is GONE. I still get MINOR tightness after 15+ milers but nothing to crazy. I still have a adhesion/bump in my hamstring but i can't feel it. Just take some time, get a stick roller, roll that bad boy, don't stretch your hamstring (REgardless what anyone says stretching that crap prolonged my injury BIG TIME) i dont ever stretch my hamstring now and its healed.

Get yourself an ultrasound machine, cheap enough these days. high intensity on pulsed with cause cavitation within the scar etc, then a session of IASTM (again can purchase a tool cheap enough)

All in all spend $100 and bam your are done for this injury and future.

Thanks for the reply,

In parallel can I start doing cardio? Elliptical ?

NO issue with cardio at same time at all, as the extra 'pull' on this tissue from the elliptical or even jogging etc following a couple of sessions of ultrasound and IASTM will actually help work it.

Think of playdoh. left in the cold you need to work it and warm it up

Thanks.

Will give it a try.

I ran with scar tissue on my hammy for ~3 years. It sucked and I was never as good as I felt I should've been, but by the end of it I was running almost pain free and the only downside was that I couldn't do true speed work (no plyometrics, no flying 30s, no block starts, etc). Everything else was fair game.

Definitely start doing cardio now. Biking (if you have access to indoor bikes you can do one-legged biking), elliptical machines, and anything that doesn't put a ton of strain on the hammy will help you a lot.

Warm up thoroughly, if you feel even the slightest strain, stop before things go south. It's much easier to pull the hamstring again if you've pulled it once before, so be very careful. Start things slow.

I have been doing the elliptical(at level 8-9, 20 mins) for almost a week now, and I have a very light discomfort ( no pain or pull)...Slight soreness.

Is it something to worry about ?

Most hammy re-injury isn't due to scar tissue, it's due to nervous system malfunction and, you know, continued weakness in the hamstrings. Do a couple sets of low-volume Nordic curls 2-3 times a week. It's a very simple eccentric exercise for the hamstrings--just google it for instruction.

SoCal Pete wrote:

Most hammy re-injury isn't due to scar tissue, it's due to nervous system malfunction and, you know, continued weakness in the hamstrings. Do a couple sets of low-volume Nordic curls 2-3 times a week. It's a very simple eccentric exercise for the hamstrings--just google it for instruction.

This.

Eccentric Nordic curls are great for strengthening an injured hamstring that is locked into a rut of staying weak. The first few times you do the curls you will think your injured hamstring is about to rip in half. It won't. This is just retraining your brain to actually use the hamstring instead of always favoring it.

Also, I've had chronic scar tissue in hamstrings that never went away until I did cross-friction massage. Massage the scare tissue by moving your fingers perpendicular to the muscle fiber until your fingers ache. Do this as often as you can stand to do it. The muscle will be very irritated, but that is necessary to break up the scarred muscle fibers and get them to rebuild in line with the health muscle fibers around them.

thanks to you and Pete

I have had this same problem for some time - great advice!

Hi,

I have been doing the Elliptical for 10 days out of 14, and now I have pain in the biceps fermosis (upper left hamstring)

Have been doing cold treatment and compress since yesterday.

What should i do ? Really disappointed.