Insertional upper hamstring tendonitis. HELP!

I found the tests and exercises in this article helpful.

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2005/0505/fredericson.htm

couldn't agree more with smd. i do the one legged exercise with the ball everyday. it totally cleared up tendonitis that i had for months. good luck and start slow with the exercises.

ian

I've had the type of pain described in that article for about 6 weeks now. It came on 10 weeks into marathon training, after a really hard couple of days. I figured it was just some kind of a muscle strain, but the symptoms in that article seem much more likely. Ian, you didn't go to a PT or doctor or anything? Just found that doing the ball stretches and exercises made it go away?

Good stuff SMD. Thanks.

It started for me after a couple hard tempo work outs in April when preparing for a half. I pushed through it thinking it was normal soreness. Alot worse on left side but some discomfort on right also. Probably did more than I was capable of but wanted to follow the program. Then softball started and the sprinting tore me up and I played every week till end of August. My own fault I think but couldn't let team down??? Just thought it would go away.

I am currently going to therapy for past 3 weeks and on a 6 week course of Naprosyn after a 10 day course didn't do the total job for me. I originally did some ultrasound and now they have me doing phonophoresis (a different type of ultrasound with cortisone/lidocaine gel) followed by ice massage. PT thinks bursitis is an issue for me also as I feel nothing on straight leg hamstring stretches but feel it when I bend the knee and then stretch. Also, he says my hamstring tendon strength is awesome. It is much better than 2 months ago but I am scared to flare it back up. Also, I sit in my car all day or in home office. That iritates the butt/hammy.

Doc said I can run easily if I heat it up and then ice afterwards. PT says I should not run or even do StairMaster or bike for a couple weeks and avoid resistance leg curls or anything that irritates it. I am on a streak of 2 weeks without running and did do StairMaster twice. Geez, need to do something. I hate the weight gain. Been doing bridging exercises and hip extension. Will start the ball resistance exercises next. Do you just do negative with these or full motion. Doc told me negatives are very important and article says the same.

been there and am finally getting over this after several years.. key things were 1) exercises in those article BUT only do them in a range of motion that doesn't hurt the ham. 2) don't stretch - not even a little bit..seriously, sounds counterintuitive but i think tissue that is already hurt can't stand the stretch so it just keeps tearing.

3)adductor and abductor machines - don't quite understand it (someone explain if you do) but someone suggested focusing on strengthening and stretching these sets of opposing muscles and when you get the urge to stretch the hams while you are hurt, stretch these instead.

i combined all 3 of the above in late august and i'm thrilled with how i'm actually able to step up and not feel my ham/butt anymore. i was doing #1 for a long time and i think i was too intense with them. i kind of think the key to this injury is to not do anything that makes it hurt but work all the muscles around it.

I all but quit running for about 4 months after I came down with a nasty case of this stuff. One of my buddies referred to a local PT that specializes in Active Release Technique (ART). ART is different than massage and it's all the rage among pro triathletes. My PT treats all the local pro's (I live in San Diego, so by local pro's I mean many of the best in the US) and he was the only PT I saw about the injury that knew more about it than a part time high school athletic trainer.

Within two weeks I could start running again almost completely pain free. I think I saw him 2-3x per week for 2-3 weeks. That was 6 months ago and I'm back to running 90 mpw. I do still notice the tendonitis a little bit (but not enough to miss a day of running), so I think i'll give these exercises a shot for a few months as a component of my strength training.

One thing that I still can't do is go for long rides on my bike. Maybe these exercises can help that...