Hi guys,
I’m a 400 hurdler and during the off-season this past July (6 months ago) I was at a track unplanned and stupidly decided to go over hurdles barefoot with no warmup. On one I felt a sharp pain in my left (lead leg) hamstring as I cleared it, as though the bottom of my leg had nicked the hurdle harder than normal, but then it seized up and I realized I hadn’t touched the hurdle at all but rather had a tear in my hammy. Rather than being in the back (biceps femoris I believe) like a classic sprinting injury, it was more on the inside part of the hamstring (I think the semimembranosus) and didn’t hurt to extend against pressure or bear weight, only to stretch. I walked with a limp for a few days and could jog very slowly, but any movement reaching towards my toes was impossible and extremely painful/tight. I didn’t have any noticeable swelling or bruising. I took the week off power cleaning and kept doing all my other lifts because they didn’t aggravate it, and got back to slow running within the end of the week.
After 11 days I felt like I could run at a decent pace (800 or mile pace) and touch close to my toes with less pain and stupidly tried to play a game of ultimate frisbee, but lunging to block the frisbee I felt it seize up and a reaggravation which this time brought on swelling and bruising and set me back to the level of about 4 days after the injury. I didn’t take any time off of anything but wasn’t sprinting during the off season anyway and just continued to workout and lift as things gradually improved before plateauing.
However fast forward to 6 months later beginning of indoor season the injured muscle on the inner left hamstring doesn’t feel as strong as my right side, and hurdling seems to bring about soreness in other parts of the hammy such as the biceps femoris and near my glute, and these areas feel like they are stretching more to compensate for the part I injured in July — it doesn’t feel right or totally healed and is definitely weaker than the right side (although since I push off the right (trail) leg it could have been slightly stronger already) Last week I PR’d at 60h in the first meet of the season but felt a stretch in the left hammy near the glute (ischial tuberosity I believe) on the last hurdle, in a different spot than the summer. It was a bit sore the next day and then when I hurdled (high reps over low hurdles) in practice this week on the last rep I felt a pull in that spot and have been unable to practice the past few days/compete this coming weekend.
It’s a frustrating injury that feels like it wasn’t super serious at first but I didn’t rest it enough and was foolish about rehab, causing it to drag on and not fully heal and is now seemingly stressing other parts of my hamstring causing other injuries. Has anyone had a similar injury (semimembranosus) to the inner hamstring before (hurdlers? ) in the lead leg? How have people dealt with it and did it drag on this long? Thanks! (Sorry I know this is long)