Has anyone had a complete recovery from high hamstring tendonitis?

I left it alone and it went away. Stop picking your scabs, dude.

Since your hamstring is a muscle, tendinitis isn’t the issue bud.

Yeahso.... wrote:

Since your hamstring is a muscle, tendinitis isn’t the issue bud.

Um, let's think a little, shall we?

Yeah I did sophomore year of highschool. Went to the PT, did the normal stretch-strengthening routine for about 3 months, have never had a problem since.

I haven't made a full recovery yet. However, resting and manual therapy (massage, chiro, graston, needling) did not help. A PT friend explained that I needed to focus on strength work. Research PT Tom Goom's work on high hamstring tendinopathy.

I found this strength progression helpful. While I haven't kicked it completely, these exercises have made the biggest difference and allowed me to run with decent success (flare ups have occurred when I've slacked off).

http://www.running-physio.com/phtvids/

I had it for about 2 years. It peaked about 6 months in as something that really bugged me, but didnt quite stop workouts, but probably slowed me down a bit subconciously. Lots of massage, light stretching, and strengthening later and it has hurt now for almost a year. So the peak discomfort was about 2.5 years ago.

I think my very long recovery would be echoed by most who have had this. It is not quick to feel completely better.

Tendonitis is something that probably took many months for form to the point that you noticed it, then months more of you ignoring it to get your attention, so it makes sense it would take at least as long to improve.

Yep me too wrote:

I haven't made a full recovery yet. However, resting and manual therapy (massage, chiro, graston, needling) did not help. A PT friend explained that I needed to focus on strength work. Research PT Tom Goom's work on high hamstring tendinopathy.

I found this strength progression helpful. While I haven't kicked it completely, these exercises have made the biggest difference and allowed me to run with decent success (flare ups have occurred when I've slacked off).

http://www.running-physio.com/phtvids/

Thanks! These exercises look really helpful. Did you start these exercises only once you no longer felt any pain or is it beneficial to start doing them even if there's discomfort at first?

Also do you find that the pain is worse after running? I've been scared to even try because the last few times I only ran 4 miles it caused it to hurt even more and undo all my progress.

Let it Rupp wrote:

Yeah I did sophomore year of highschool. Went to the PT, did the normal stretch-strengthening routine for about 3 months, have never had a problem since.

That's great to hear that you were able to get rid of it for good! During those 3 months did you stay away from running completely or do any type of cross training? And so far the exercises I've found seem to be a lot of bridges and hamstring curls with a stability ball, did any of those help you?

Sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

I had it for about 2 years. It peaked about 6 months in as something that really bugged me, but didnt quite stop workouts, but probably slowed me down a bit subconciously. Lots of massage, light stretching, and strengthening later and it has hurt now for almost a year. So the peak discomfort was about 2.5 years ago.

I think my very long recovery would be echoed by most who have had this. It is not quick to feel completely better.

Tendonitis is something that probably took many months for form to the point that you noticed it, then months more of you ignoring it to get your attention, so it makes sense it would take at least as long to improve.

It's frustrating but that makes sense. I think I do remember feeling occasional twinges of pain early in November and maybe even before that but dismissed it. I've been trying to rest now since I think it might help it go away faster but I'm afraid it's not making much of a difference.

*knock on wood* I've recovered from it - I struggled with it several years ago - spring of 2013 through fall of 2014.

I used PRP to get over the initial hump of healing the injury. But the real key was figuring out why I had developed the HHT, and fixing the underlying causes.

Eccentric hamstring work under the supervision of a PT is good for the initial recovery; longer term you need to be assessing and fixing your running gait. For me, that meant stretching of my front hip flexors, plus lots of work on single leg balance and glute activation (lunges, step-ups, and single leg deadlifts are key).

As I type this, I'm sitting on an ice pack. This is my 3rd bout over the past 6 years. This is clearly the worst and was aggravated by a near trail fall. For my first two bouts, I ended up getting platelet rich plasma therapy (PRP) as I was desperate. Yes, it was expensive, but worth it as I had tried everything up to that point. It worked and was running fine, again, up until an unfortunate trail race. I haven't had an MRI, but I think that in addition to HT, I messed some other stuff up. I was exactly where you were - frustrated. Time off didn't seem to work, nor did cross train, stretch/strengthen, dry needling, etc. I'm about to shut it down until Jan 1 and try again. In short, my only help was PRP.

darkwave wrote:

*knock on wood* I've recovered from it - I struggled with it several years ago - spring of 2013 through fall of 2014.

I used PRP to get over the initial hump of healing the injury. But the real key was figuring out why I had developed the HHT, and fixing the underlying causes.

Eccentric hamstring work under the supervision of a PT is good for the initial recovery; longer term you need to be assessing and fixing your running gait. For me, that meant stretching of my front hip flexors, plus lots of work on single leg balance and glute activation (lunges, step-ups, and single leg deadlifts are key).

Hope you are over it for good fingers crossed! It's definitely a stubborn problem. I haven't considered PRP yet but my PT does do EPAT shockwave treatment sometimes which I might get if I don't see improvement. So far I haven't even done any strengthening exercises but I was told to stretch my hip flexors since that could be a cause of the problem. Apparently my glute muscle on the left side isn't activating and that's the side I have the injury so that should probably be addressed.

Mikey B wrote:

As I type this, I'm sitting on an ice pack. This is my 3rd bout over the past 6 years. This is clearly the worst and was aggravated by a near trail fall. For my first two bouts, I ended up getting platelet rich plasma therapy (PRP) as I was desperate. Yes, it was expensive, but worth it as I had tried everything up to that point. It worked and was running fine, again, up until an unfortunate trail race. I haven't had an MRI, but I think that in addition to HT, I messed some other stuff up. I was exactly where you were - frustrated. Time off didn't seem to work, nor did cross train, stretch/strengthen, dry needling, etc. I'm about to shut it down until Jan 1 and try again. In short, my only help was PRP.

Seems like PRP has helped and I'm going to look into it. My insurance probably doesn't cover it but I am willing to do anything for a cure right now. I'm also forcing myself to stay away from all exercise until January and see if that helps. For the past few weeks I've only done core work and arm exercises. I barely walk more than a mile a day total and I feel like my legs are wasting away.

So sorry you're dealing with it, there might be worse but so far this hamstring problem is the scariest running injury I've encountered.

After the PRP were you able to resume regular activities immediately or is there a recovery time for that?

I think I'm dealing with the same problem except I'm lucky that I caught it really early and the pain is very mild even at it's worst. I've been resting for almost a month and there seems to be barely any pain when walking or bending over anymore.

Even though for most people it sounds like it became a recurring issue so that makes me hesitant to try but I'm going crazy from complete inactivity. I even canceled by gym membership so I wouldn't be tempted to go and spend an hour on the spin bike and make things worse.

Is there any way to know it is safe to run again without an MRI? And if I do run and the pain comes back does that mean I ruined it and have to start all over again?

Also have been plagued with this for a year. I keep it under control by resting a few days after each run but it's so unsatisfying and always fills me with fear every time I feel that pain come back in the same spot. I find that the elliptical does not cause as much damage as running so I alternate between that and running.

I have a terrible insurance plan and wasted so much money on PTs who just printed out some stretches for me that I don't think I can afford to see one again.

I've found a lot of info online on the strengthening exercises but it seems like that alone didn't do it for most people. PRP seems to be a good choice but I probably can't afford that for a long time. Has anyone been able to cure this at home by themselves? I found a lot of videos on using a lacrosse ball on the hamstrings and I also foam roll twice a day. I don't push too hard but I do some gentle stretching too.

I had a pretty nasty case a year and a half ago. Good rehab with lots of eccentric exercises and also needling with a good physical therapist familiar with runners. His theory was to slowly "load" the hamstring. Run then a day or two of alternative aerobic activity and lots of eccentric exercises (Bulgarian squats include). Then a more strenuous run, repeat until the hamstring and tendon are loading effectively and efficiently.

I do maintenance eccentric exercises a few days a week. Also, sitting on a lacrosse ball and working the trigger points throughout the hamstring helped me.

Yeahso.... wrote:

Since your hamstring is a muscle, tendinitis isn’t the issue bud.

And, as the PT who treated me explained, high hamstring tendinitis isn't tendinitis in the same way tennis elbow is, for example. For older runners, it's more like an arthritis of the tendon, it gets worn down and forgets how to load in synchronicity with the hamstring. Which is why resting is not the answer, as counterintuitive as that may seem. The key is to load the muscle-tendon complex progressively until they regain the right balance of tension and release.

OldPollarBear wrote:

I had a pretty nasty case a year and a half ago. Good rehab with lots of eccentric exercises and also needling with a good physical therapist familiar with runners. His theory was to slowly "load" the hamstring. Run then a day or two of alternative aerobic activity and lots of eccentric exercises (Bulgarian squats include). Then a more strenuous run, repeat until the hamstring and tendon are loading effectively and efficiently.

I do maintenance eccentric exercises a few days a week. Also, sitting on a lacrosse ball and working the trigger points throughout the hamstring helped me.

Thanks! I'm starting to think that eccentric exercises and rehab could be the answer since all this rest hasn't done anything and it hasn't gotten worse but no improvements at all. Every time I try to test for pain it still hurts.

Right after I self-massage with a lacrosse ball it does feel a lot better and I usually try to do it twice a day.

I'm 25 right now but I think this is probably an overuse injury and not an acute strain or tear. My PT still hasn't told me to start any sort of exercise but I feel like I could at least do bridges or hamstring curls. I just really hope my PT knows what they're doing because I feel like this has gone on long enough.

Thanks for sharing!

This may help some . . .

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/High_Hamstring_Tendinopathy_Rehab_Protocol_P2979770/?search_string=high%20hamstring#p2979770