While running last week I felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of my leg. I immediately stopped running as the pain was bad. I took the past week off, but it is still achy and hurts if I walk too much. How long can I expect this to last? I went to a physical therapist who said it's a grade 1 strain, but say recovery varies so I'd love to hear from others who have experienced this.
This is going to possibly sound like overkill but get an MRI. I tore my hamstring tendons from my pelvic bone and went mis-diagnosed for 6 months before finally having surgery. I was not able to walk or run for a few weeks -- but I had a sports med guy tell me to take 5-weeks off and do PT then slowly start back to run. So, I did. Things were "ok" (still painful but I was able to run) for about a month and then my whole hip just shut down - and I ended up in surgery long past when I should have - it made the surgery more complicated and my recovery longer. It has been 16 very long months for me -- I am finally running again. It can be a horribly long process (PT or surgery).
While you may not have a complete tear, it is better to know in advance how serious it is so you can get the best treatment plan possible -- even if it is not torn, PT'ing these injuries can take a lot of time, and in my opinion, it is just better to know now so you can plan accordingly. There is a facebook page for these kinds of injuries search for "Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy and Avulsion". Just FYI, I was able to pay cash for an MRI with contrast - $250, much easier than going through insurance.
Strained my left hamstring last October. Can't remember what the "grade" was but the pain was more in the lower half and slightly towards the outside, but definitely not the IT band. It hurt pretty bad when I tried to run on it but I never really felt it while walking. Anyway, I took about 2 weeks completely off, then built the running back up. By January I was back to 40 mpw. I was doing strengthening exercises this whole time.
If you get a rehab routine that works for you I recommend sticking with it even when you think your injury is gone. I gradually weaned off my exercises while simultaneously doing more speed work, and wouldn't you know it, I felt the same strain coming back. This was about 2 weeks ago. I've managed to avoid a full-blown recurrence. It doesn't help that I'm almost 33. Injuries don't seem to go away so much as fade into something manageable.
I agree with this. I suffered from on and off high hamstring strains for years. It always coincided with increased mileage and speedwork. I finally incorporated a strengthening routine that worked and decided to stick with it even when healthy because I was afraid it would keep coming back.
I do my strength work twice a week and haven't had any issues since even with lots of speedwork.
I definitely tried to stay active with walking but I didn't really do much structured cross training since I wasn't really training for anything when it happened. It took me about 2 weeks to get an appointment with my trusted PT so I figured there was no need to push things in the meantime. Once I was running every other day I tried to do some light cycling on the off days.
As for the question of what strength work, the routine I follow now is
- 3x10-12 kettle bell drops (I use 16 Kg/35 lb). I think this is kind of like a single leg deadlift but not exactly. Basically I lift it off the ground with both feet planted, then slowly lower while balancing on one leg. I keep the leg as straight as I can while still being able to reach the floor. I also try to keep my back straight which is hard to do.
- 3x8-10 hip bridge/slide. Lying on your back, go into the bridge position with knees bent. With a furniture slider below your foot, straighten one leg completely and then lower your back/butt to the ground.
- 3x12 90/90 bridges. Lying on your back, put both feet on a chair or other flat surface so that your knees are at roughly 90 degrees. Then take one foot off and use your other leg to push yourself up into the bridge position (knees/hips/shoulders aligned), then slowly lower down.
I do all of these on both legs even though the strain was on my left side.
In the past I also did a couple of exercises on gym equipment and even some Nordic hamstring curls. I love my PT but this routine was pretty arduous and would take me nearly an hour to do, so I never stuck with the "full" version for very long. The three I listed above aren't too bad and seem to work pretty well for me. That said, I'm just a layman and if you can find a running-focused PT in your area that's what helped me figure this stuff out and get back to running.
Hamstring curls using a stability ball, 3 sets of 15 reps with both legs at the same time. I also add in a 4th set doing one leg at a time for 8 reps each, but I feel like the single leg part is a bonus and not necessary.
I experimented with Nordic hamstring curls at the beginning too, but setup in my house was kind of a pain and decided to see if the stability ball curls were enough and they were.
I found this Bob & Brad video to be extremely helpful with recovery from my hamstring injury:
"Famous" Physical Therapists Bob Schrupp and Brad Heineck present: 5 Simple Steps to HEAL Hamstring Strain FAST!!ALERT: Bob and Brad's new invention The Knee...