I pulled my hamstring yesterday...

[TN94z]

Well, I was outside with my step son and we were racing.  I was going pretty hard when I felt a "pop" in my hamstring.  I immediately grabbed it and hit the dirt.  I had to lay there for a few minutes before I could get up.  Then I hobbled into the house using my SW as a cane. I just sat around the rest of the night and put some Icy Hot on it.  This morning I didn't notice any swelling and there is no bruising, so it must not have been too terribly bad.  But now it is VERY tight and still hurts.  It is more frustrating that anything.

Any suggestions on speeding up recovery?

[NI4NI]

I hate it when that happens.  There are three grades of hamstring pull, and it sounds like yours was the least severe type, based on your post (but I am no Doctor, and did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night).  Recovery time varies based on the grade of pull, but the general recovery options include:

The most important phase for treatment is the first 48 hours, post-injury

1.  Ice Therapy (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) technique .

2. Compression bandage (to reduce any internal muscular swelling)

3. Stretching and Strengthening through the non-pain zone to help speed recovery.

4.  Seeing a Doctor or Specialist if there are issues

Take it easy for a few days, and then see how it is.

[TN94z]

  NI4NI said:

Originally Posted by NI4NI

I hate it when that happens.  There are three grades of hamstring pull, and it sounds like yours was the least severe type, based on your post (but I am no Doctor, and did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night).  Recovery time varies based on the grade of pull, but the general recovery options include:

The most important phase for treatment is the first 48 hours, post-injury

1.  Ice Therapy (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) technique  .

2. Compression bandage (to reduce any internal muscular swelling)

3. Stretching and Strengthening through the non-pain zone to help speed recovery.

4.  Seeing a Doctor or Specialist if there are issues

Take it easy for a few days, and then see how it is.

Thanks. I was reading about the different grades.  It sounds like a grade 1 with the exception of feeling pain when I press on the hurt area, which was a sign of grade two.  I am going with the least severe at the moment though.  I haven't elevated, iced, or compressed since it happened.  I used the icy hot last night.  I guess after work today, I will start doing those things and maybe it will be better pretty quick.  I have that scramble in a week.  Not to mention I am missing my gym time which I hate.

[brightonrock]

I got a grade 2 about 3 months ago, had some pretty violent bruising, couldn't put any any weight on it whatsoever for about 4 days. RICE is the way to go, ice it on/off every few hours and make sure you strap it up as tight as you can for the first couple of days. Took me about 3-4 weeks in total before I felt comfortable again but even now playing football (soccer :D) its still in the back of my mind.

[TN94z]

  brightonrock said:

Originally Posted by brightonrock

I got a grade 2 about 3 months ago, had some pretty violent bruising, couldn't put any any weight on it whatsoever for about 4 days. RICE is the way to go, ice it on/off every few hours and make sure you strap it up as tight as you can for the first couple of days. Took me about 3-4 weeks in total before I felt comfortable again but even now playing football (soccer :D) its still in the back of my mind.

Wow!!  Mine is for sure not a grade 2 because it is nowhere near that serious.   I hope that it's well enough for the tournament next week.

[gilbo]

i would shut it down for a few weeks til it gets better, unless u get paid to play in tourney, not worth the injuring even more

[Aquaguru]

  NI4NI said:

Originally Posted by NI4NI

I hate it when that happens.  There are three grades of hamstring pull, and it sounds like yours was the least severe type, based on your post (but I am no Doctor, and did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night).  Recovery time varies based on the grade of pull, but the general recovery options include:

The most important phase for treatment is the first 48 hours, post-injury

1.  Ice Therapy (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) technique  .

2. Compression bandage (to reduce any internal muscular swelling)

3. Stretching and Strengthening through the non-pain zone to help speed recovery.

4.  Seeing a Doctor or Specialist if there are issues

Take it easy for a few days, and then see how it is.

Whatever you do, DO NOT STRETCH it.  This will only make it worse.  I know that alot of people will say to stretch muscle strains but being an Athletic Trainer I advise you not to.  Here is the reason.  When you strain (pull) your muscle your have shredded the muscle fibers.  Think of it like when your golf towel starts to fray.  Would you pull on it to make it better, no it would rip the towel in half.  This is what happens to your muscle when you stretch and strengthen it, you put more stress on the muscle.  This also causes the body to quickly lay down type 3 collagen fibers, the worst kind. This is basically scar tissue build up in your muscle.  When you have scar tissue in your muscle you have a higher rate of re-injury (about 75% chance according to the current literature).

Exercises that you need to perform is strengthening the glutes and core.  I know this may seem weird since the injured area is your hamstring but you need to give the hamstring atleast 4 weeks to recover.

A good journal article to read is by Sherry M, Thomas B.  A Comparison of 2 Rehabilitation Programsin the Treatment of Acute Hamstring Strains. Out of the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy Journal.

[newtogolf]

  Aquaguru said:

Originally Posted by Aquaguru

Whatever you do, DO NOT STRETCH it.  This will only make it worse.  I know that alot of people will say to stretch muscle strains but being an Athletic Trainer I advise you not to.  Here is the reason.  When you strain (pull) your muscle your have shredded the muscle fibers.  Think of it like when your golf towel starts to fray.  Would you pull on it to make it better, no it would rip the towel in half.  This is what happens to your muscle when you stretch and strengthen it, you put more stress on the muscle.  This also causes the body to quickly lay down type 3 collagen fibers, the worst kind. This is basically scar tissue build up in your muscle.  When you have scar tissue in your muscle you have a higher rate of re-injury (about 75% chance according to the current literature).

Exercises that you need to perform is strengthening the glutes and core.  I know this may seem weird since the injured area is your hamstring but you need to give the hamstring atleast 4 weeks to recover.

A good journal article to read is by Sherry M, Thomas B.  A Comparison of 2 Rehabilitation Programsin the Treatment of Acute Hamstring Strains. Out of the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy Journal.

+1  There is a time to stretch it, but not immediately after injuring it.  Most people stretch incorrectly, so unless your doctor shows you explicitly what to do, don't stretch.

[NI4NI]

  Aquaguru said:

Originally Posted by Aquaguru

Whatever you do, DO NOT STRETCH it.  This will only make it worse.  I know that alot of people will say to stretch muscle strains but being an Athletic Trainer I advise you not to.  Here is the reason.  When you strain (pull) your muscle your have shredded the muscle fibers.  Think of it like when your golf towel starts to fray.  Would you pull on it to make it better, no it would rip the towel in half.  This is what happens to your muscle when you stretch and strengthen it, you put more stress on the muscle.  This also causes the body to quickly lay down type 3 collagen fibers, the worst kind. This is basically scar tissue build up in your muscle.  When you have scar tissue in your muscle you have a higher rate of re-injury (about 75% chance according to the current literature).

Exercises that you need to perform is strengthening the glutes and core.  I know this may seem weird since the injured area is your hamstring but you need to give the hamstring atleast 4 weeks to recover.

A good journal article to read is by Sherry M, Thomas B.  A Comparison of 2 Rehabilitation Programsin the Treatment of Acute Hamstring Strains. Out of the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy Journal.

Like I stated, I am not a Doctor (or athletic trainer), but when I played competitve sports way back in a previous millenium, stretching and strengthening techniques were the norm as part of the recovery process.  They were said to aid with decreasing the swelling in the area, and also to ensure that any new material will be laid down in correct orientation thus reducing the risk of subsequent injuries.  Our training team followed the RICE method for ~48-72 hours, followed by stretching and strengthening exercises. It seemed to work well as I recall.

I perused the above article - thanks for the reference.  Since both STST and PATS groups exercised, stretching through the non-pain range should not be considered risky for recovery.

Also, this report covered competitive athletes from a wide range of sports, half of whom were diagnosed with grade 2 pulls (12 / 24) - not sure that the OP's injury is on par.

I respect your insight; key is to allow for RICE in the immediate recovery window, and then some activity for further improvement.

[Aquaguru]

Yes, stretching is still still the norm in some facilities.  And no one would ever be called out for maltreatment if they told there patient to stretch and strengthen.  What I'm trying to do is to try to protect the hamstring from ever being strained again.  That was the main difference between the two groups.  The PATS group did exercise it but all of the movement was in lateral movement avoiding a concentric contraction of the hamstrings.  There is also good evidence that eccentric training is more beneficial than the traditional concentric.  I'm not saying to go against what your doctors are telling you at all since I'm not a doctor, but I just want you to become aware of it.  I think it is something that 60-70% of everyone who pulls hamstrings re-pulls it within a year, so obviously something isn't working.  If a surgeon had that kind of failure rate in ACL surgery he probably wouldn't be a surgeon for much longer.

[allin]

  Aquaguru said:

Originally Posted by Aquaguru

Yes, stretching is still still the norm in some facilities.  And no one would ever be called out for maltreatment if they told there patient to stretch and strengthen.  What I'm trying to do is to try to protect the hamstring from ever being strained again.  That was the main difference between the two groups.  The PATS group did exercise it but all of the movement was in lateral movement avoiding a concentric contraction of the hamstrings.  There is also good evidence that eccentric training is more beneficial than the traditional concentric.  I'm not saying to go against what your doctors are telling you at all since I'm not a doctor, but I just want you to become aware of it.  I think it is something that 60-70% of everyone who pulls hamstrings re-pulls it within a year, so obviously something isn't working.  If a surgeon had that kind of failure rate in ACL surgery he probably wouldn't be a surgeon for much longAer.

Are compression wraps still part of the treatment. I was a decent 800 and 400 meter runner at one time and compression wraps for the first week or so were standard in my era. Back then after swelling and bruising was better short streching periods, no long static strectches, then called active stretching, ( only held gentle stretch for a 2 count and released, 10 reps).  The  belief was that this helped maintain blood supply and range of motion without the risk of injury possible with static stretches.

[TN94z]

It is starting to bruise now and is pretty tight. I think it's safe to say that I am out of the scramble this week.  It's just not worth it.  We had plans for about 2 months to go out of town this past weekend and couldn't cancel, so I didn't get a chance to take care of it as well as I would have liked.

[TN94z]

Anyone know of a store where I can buy a hamstring compression wrap?  I have tried ACE bandages but none of them will stay in place for very long.  I tried a slef adhesive wrap, but it gets wadded up once you take it off making it almost a one time only deal.  I have found these compression wraps which seem to be the item of choice for most active people, but don't know where to get one.  Dick's sporting goods?  I know that WalMart and the local drug stored don't have them.

[mdl]

I pulled my hamstring really badly 6 months ago.  Sort of a grade 1/2 like yours, edging towards grade 2 more than yours.  I did some research and read that after 24-48 hours you don't in fact just want to ice, but you should alternate ice and heat.

[newtogolf]

Sports Authority and Dicks should have them.

[TN94z]

I found a sleeve at Dick's.  That will work.   It wasn't what I was looking for but MUCH better than the ACE bandage stuff.