Lower hamstring tendonitis... is this the end?

Two pieces of advice that helped me get through so many injuries:

1) There is no injury that doesn't heal with rest (not including knee replacements obviously)

2) The body WANTS to achieve homeostasis.

I've had upper hamstring tendonosis on and off forever and I've learned what to do when it rears it's ugly head. You will too. (Sorry not super helpful but I know how much injuries suck.)

1) There is no overuse injury that heal with rest that will not come back again when you resume exercise at a similar level. Rest is often a necessary part of the recovery process, but it is very rarely sufficient to prevent re-injury.

2) Given enough rest, the muscles will atrophy, the bones will lose their density, the tendons will weaken and the brain/CNS will forget how to move the body. The kind of homeostasis that the body will achieve if you stop exercise completely is the kind that you see in typical middle-aged sedentary westerners: slow, weak, fat and generally having terrible posture and suffering from back pain.

I had Achilles tendonitis once, worst injury ever for me, couldn't run at all for almost 4 months and that was with PT. Eventually it passed. Yours will too, 6 weeks isn't all that long. Keep up cross training, you'll maintain decent fitness of you're dedicated enough.

Tendons repair much slower than muscles, so you have to proceed slowly. Avoid doing anything that results in pain. Looking back at my own patellar tendonitis last year, every time I went up or down stairs I might feel sharp little pains. I tried favoring the uninjured side, but in hindsight I probably should have done more to avoid these pains as I suspect they marked tiny setbacks. When you do start feeling like you are healed enough to go back to regular workouts, scale it back. It is easy to re-injure. Restore strength first, then spring.

My PT helped me greatly -- you need someone who sees your particular issues and can help you address them.

You are looking on the web and to other therapists -- great. The more ways you can find to strengthen and heal, the better. Resources that helped me:

Jill Cook, a researcher in Australia:

http://podcast.healthywealthysmart.com/2016/02/201-busting-tendinopathy-myths-w-dr-jill-cook/

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

Jill Miller's rolling:

http://www.therollmodel.com/

I've dealt with upper hamstring tendinopathy in both hamstrings (different occasions) over the years. Initially, I rested, cross trained, changed shoes, etc. I tried everything. It wasn't until I had PRP therapy that I was able to run again. Insurance didn't cover the therapy, but it was worth the price. Prior to having it done, my doc said that she had about 80% success rate. Again, for me, it was the only thing that worked.

Hi, out of interest, what does your knee feel like? Believe I have similar, though could be wrong. My knee feels generally weak with an uncomfortable feeling that a muscle/tendon is catching and releasing. Is this what yours is like?

I am going on 10 wks of no running and there has been absolutely no change in my posterior knee pain. I've never had an injury shut my running down completely. It's so frustrating. This injury has impacted all cross training too. I haven't found anything that really helps. Ibuprofen doesn't do much. Icing helps a little. I did a couple of sessions of PT which didn't help at all (I'm not a very patient patient). I'm trying PT again as I have to do something. I've searched all over the Internet for ideas but nothing I hadn't already tried. Hopefully PT persistence will work.

Did you ever find a satisfactory treatment for low hamstring tendonapathy, I an suffering with it no w for the 2nd time in 2 years. The pain is terrible behind knees. Constant burning and weakness . Nothing really helps pain subside. I previously had prp with alot of pt. The injury is now back . Does anyone have any knowledge on this ......thanks so much

If you run for long enough you will start to realize that these endless two month or even two year segments of interrupted running are mere blips.

All of these minor inconveniences will fade and probably never return.

Hi, I'm not sure if you are still struggling with this but I have had lower hamstring tendonitis/tendinopathy for 2 years on and off now. I could find little information on it online. I have had several cortisone injections and a PRP injection which made no difference. I went from running 100km a week to nothing. Resting does NOT help. I have recently started a rehab programmed including isosmetric holds and this has been a game changer.

If you have not had any success I could share some tips

Hi. I like many of the others posting on this topic seem to be going nowhere fast on the recovery from what PT Believes maybe (maybe not) a Tendonitis injury.

Very keen to hear more on how you got through it and what specifically you did and did not do.

Walking seems to fire off the tendon behind my knee but cycling appears to ease it back (at least temporarily). What I don’t know is whether the low resistance cycling is a short term effect and is actually putting more strain on the tendon etc.

Keen to hear more if you can post some info on how you got through your Tendonitis.

Thanks

Is it nerve related?

Hard to tell. PT Unsure.

Could be hyperextended knee forced to overwork from age, speedwork, and being overweight.

Hey man! I was out for 8 weeks recently, and I was in shock most of the time. Remember this though:

1. You care more about your long-term training than your running career going on right now. If you really do, this will just make you stronger.

2. Be sure you are COMPLETELY off of it. I was like, oh yeah! What can walking 4 miles a day do to slow down my recovery. Once the pandemic (epidemic?) started, I immediately started to recover.

And 3! MOST IMPORTANT: What my PT did was analyze which muscles seemed the weakest, and had me strengthen them (leg muscles). This was very helpful since it relieved even more stress from my legs. So a big piece of advice would be to strengthen your achilles and glutes. That will take more stress off of your hamstrings.

Here’s a simple nerve or muscle test .

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.orthocorept.com/blog/2018/7/24/is-it-sciatica-or-is-it-a-hamstring-strain%3fformat=amp

I get lower hamstring tendinitis about once a year, due to my sciatic nerve. I didn’t treat it at all the first time I got it and recovery took about four weeks.

The last two times I’ve treated it really well, it took 1-2 weeks to resolve. I’m not sure what exactly helped but here’s what I do:

Dry needling on the lower hamstring.

Putting a lacrosse ball on a chair, putting my hamstring on it and doing slow leg extensions, several times throughout the day

Nerve flossing throughout the day

Scrapping it a couple of minutes a day with an istym tool

Pool running. The times I hammered a pool workout, my hamstring would always feel better the next day. Movement and blood flow with slight to no inflammation is great for healing

I also did some hamstring rehab...nordics, eccentric hamstring curls, etc.

When it was runnable, I’d stick to the treadmill and run on a 3% or greater incline. This takes additional load off the hamstring. As it got better, I returned to flat running and stayed away from downhills.

Cheers guys. I’ve been walking (as PT recommended) lots on it for last 6weeks but realising that’s just slowed or stopped the healing so backed off to nothing for now.

Thanks for input.

Hi, Jumping in on this as I've suffered for a couple of years from lower hamstring tendinitis (manifested in my case by a persistent ache and weakness behind the knee, tenderness and pain when walking, squatting etc, and often pain far too great for running.) It came and went in phases for me - weeks of rest, icing during any periods of pain, and some PT (and also even acupuncture) helped in bits, but never fully cured the issue. Every time I thought i was beyond the worst of it, it would flare up again following activities like running, cycling, squatting weights etc. However as I write this, I believe I've found a solution which appears to be working - an acupressure mat. I initially bought that for my back as a colleague was raving about how effective his had been...along with the flat mat that you lie down on, this one came with a mini pillow type thing for the neck. I decided to give this a go on my hamstring tendon when it flared up again after a run, and it proved mighty effective very quickly. I would spend about 20-30 mins with the acupressure pillow under the knee before bed each evening, and in just a couple of days the pain was more or less completely gone. Right now it feels good as new. I don't know if everybody will enjoy the same success as I have, but I highly recommend this as a cost effective and simple thing to try for a chronic injury of this kind. There are plenty of models on Amazon or similar sites for pretty reasonable prices - good luck!

I've dealt with it. Taking off and cross training didn't seem to worth. After about 6 months, I just said heck with it. XC was starting in 2 weeks and I was going to limp through it and at least try to beat someone in races. To my surprise, I was able to run near easy pace with some annoyance in my leg right away, in 2 weeks I could do a tempo, and in 4 weeks I was racing. I've had 3 recurrences since then, none in like 4 or 5 years and each time I've just tried running through it. Since the first time, the longest its lasted before I could do at least a tempo was 4 months.

It heals eventually. I think you should seek out art rather than trying my approach.