Hamstring Question for the Doc's and Runners

[Supersquishy]

I think I may have strained my hamstring muscle pushing heavy crap around the hangar a few days ago. When I went on my normal everyday run I could feel the back of my leg start to hurt after about a mile and a half so I cut the run short. The pain was not so severe, but enough to be annoying when walking after the run. I took 2 days off and the pain is almost gone but I can sense a tingle when walking every now and then, but question is how long should I take off before I start running again? a week or two weeks?

[NoRemorse]

A tingle? Could be lumbar radiculitis or a bunch of other scary words.

Make sure it's pain and not a nerve tingling sensation which would indicate another problem. Get a wooden dowel or a rolling pin and roll the hammy to see if there's an adhesion (scar tissue, you'll know it when you hit it because you'll grimace and contract your muscle... compare it to the "hard poop" face)

If you do find an adhesion... roll the bastard out with enough pressure 30 times per one inch increment. Don't take long at all; can also assist in your warmup.

Also, drink more water. I'd get severe cramps in one of my hammies whenever I was getting a good blow job. Turns out I didn't hydrate enough before.

Now without further ado, I'm giving this over to the real experts

[Lisa 23]

Here's some info that might help......

Hamstring Strain
Unfortunately, hamstring strains are both common and painful. They strike athletes of all sorts -- runners, skaters, and football, soccer, and basketball players, to name a few.
But first, what is a hamstring? It isn't actually a single ''string.'' It's a group of three muscles that run along the back of your thigh. They allow you to bend your leg at the knee.
During a hamstring strain, one or more of these muscles gets so tight that it's stretched too far. The muscles might even start to tear. You're likely to get a hamstring strain during exercise that involves a lot of running and jumping.

Getting a hamstring strain is also more likely if:

• You don't warm up and stretch before exercising.
• The muscles in the front of your thigh are a lot stronger than your hamstrings.
• You're a teenager going through a growth spurt.

What Does a Hamstring Strain Feel Like?


Symptoms of a hamstring strain are:

• Sudden and severe pain during exercise, along with a snapping or popping feeling.
• Pain in the back of the thigh and lower buttock when walking, straightening the leg, or bending over.
• Tenderness.
• Bruising.

Mild hamstring strains may not hurt too much. But severe ones can be agonizing, making it impossible to walk or even stand.
To diagnose a hamstring strain, your doctor will give you a thorough physical exam. He or she will ask you specific questions about how you hurt your leg.

What's the Treatment for a Hamstring Strain?


Luckily, minor to moderate hamstring strains usually heal on their own. You just need to give them some time. To speed the healing, you can:

• Rest the leg. Avoid putting weight on your leg as best you can. If the pain is severe, you may need crutches until it goes away.
• Ice your leg to reduce pain and swelling. Do it for 20-30 minutes every 3-4 hours for 2-3 days, or until the pain is gone.
• Compress your leg. Use an elastic bandage around the leg to keep down swelling.
• Elevate your leg on a pillow when you're sitting or lying down.
• Take anti-inflammatory painkillers. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( NSAIDs), like Advil, Aleve or Motrin, will help with pain and swelling. However, these drugs may have side effects, like an increased risk of bleeding and ulcers. They should be used only occasionally, unless your doctor specifically says otherwise.
• Practice stretching and strengthening exercises if your doctor recommends them. Strengthening your hamstrings is the best protection against hamstring strain.

In severe cases where the muscle is torn, you may need surgery. The surgeon will repair the muscles and reattach them.

When Will I Feel Better?

Recovery time depends on how badly you injured your hamstring. Keep in mind that people heal at different rates. While you get better, you should try out a new activity that won't aggravate your hamstring strain. For instance, runners could try doing laps in a pool.

Whatever you do, don't rush things. Don't even try to return to your old level of physical activity until:

• You can move your leg as freely as your uninjured leg.
• Your leg feels as strong as your uninjured leg.
• You feel no pain in your leg when you walk, jog, sprint or jump.

If you start pushing yourself before your hamstring strain is healed, you could develop permanent pain and disability.

How Can I Prevent Hamstring Strain?


As hamstring strains can be nasty injuries, athletes should work hard to avoid them. After all, healing a hamstring strain is much harder than preventing it. Here are some tips:

• Stretch before and after physical activity.
• Always increase the intensity of your physical activity slowly -- no more than a 10% increase a week.
• Stop exercising if you feel pain in the back of your thigh.
• Exercise your hamstrings as a preventative measure.

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/hamstring-strain

[Lisa 23]

Also, maybe you could've aggravated your sciatic nerve. Here's some info on that........

Sciatica - Topic Overview
Sciatica is pain, tingling, or numbness produced by an irritation of the nerve roots that lead to the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is formed by the nerve roots coming out of the spinal cord into the lower back. Branches of the sciatic nervehttp://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/web...ace/camera.gif extend through the buttocks and down the back of each leg to the ankle and foot.

What causes sciatica?

The most common cause of sciatica is a bulging or ruptured disc (herniated disc) in the spine pressing against the nerve roots that lead to the sciatic nerve. But sciatica also can be a symptom of other conditions that affect the spine, such as narrowing of the spinal canal (spinal stenosis), bone spurs (small, bony growths that form along joints) caused by arthritis, or nerve root compression (pinched nerve) caused by injury. In rare cases, sciatica can also be caused by conditions that do not involve the spine, such as tumors or pregnancy.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of sciatica include pain that begins in your back or buttocks and moves down your leg and may move into your foot. Weakness, tingling, or numbness in the leg may also occur.

• Sitting, standing for a long time, and movements that cause the spine to flex (such as knee-to-chest exercises) may make symptoms worse.
• Walking, lying down, and movements that extend the spine (such as shoulder lifts) may relieve symptoms.

How is sciatica diagnosed?

Sciatica is diagnosed with a medical history and physical exam. Your doctor will ask you questions about your symptoms. And your doctor may be able to tell just by asking you these questions that you have sciatica, but X-rays and tests such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are sometimes done to help find the cause of the sciatica.

How is it treated?

In many cases, sciatica will improve and go away with time. Initial treatment usually focuses on medicines and exercises to relieve pain. You can help relieve pain by:

• Avoiding sitting (unless it is more comfortable than standing).
• Alternating lying down with short walks. Increase your walking distance as you are able to without pain.
• Taking acetaminophen (Tylenol) or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen (Advil) or naproxen (Aleve).
• Using a heating pad on a low or medium setting, or a warm shower, for 15 to 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours. You can also try an ice pack for 10 to 15 minutes every 2 to 3 hours. There is not strong evidence that either heat or ice will help, but you can try them to see if they help you.

Additional treatment for sciatica depends on what is causing the nerve irritation. If your symptoms do not improve, your doctor may suggest physical therapy, injections of medicines such as steroids, or even surgery for severe cases.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/tc/sc...topic-overview


Pain Management and Sciatica
Sciatica is a common type of pain affecting the sciatic nerve, a large nerve extending from the lower back down the back of each leg.

What Are the Symptoms of Sciatica?

Common symptoms of sciatica include:

• Pain in the rear or leg that is worse when sitting
• Burning or tingling down the leg
• Weakness, numbness, or difficulty moving the leg or foot
• A constant pain on one side of the rear
• A shooting pain that makes it difficult to stand up

Sciatica usually affects only one side of the lower body. Often, the pain extends from the lower back all the way through the back of the thigh and down through the leg. Depending on where the sciatic nerve is affected, the pain may also extend to the foot or toes.
For some people, the pain from sciatica can be severe and debilitating. For others, the pain from sciatica might be infrequent and irritating, but has the potential to get worse.
Seek immediate medical attention with any symptoms of progressive lower extremity weakness and/or loss of bladder or bowel control.

What Causes Sciatica?

Sciatica is caused by irritation of the root(s) of the lower lumbar and lumbosacral spine.

Additional common causes of sciatica include:

• Lumbar spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal in the lower back)
• Degenerative disc disease (breakdown of discs, which act as cushions between the vertebrae)
• Spondylolisthesis (a condition in which one vertebra slips forward over another one)
• Pregnancy

Other things that may make your back pain worse include being overweight, not exercising regularly, wearing high heels, or sleeping on a mattress that is too soft.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/sciatica-symptoms

[Supersquishy]

Awesome info! Thanks! Ill try the roller dowel and see what it does, when I said tingle, I meant slight soreness.

[Matt Brzycki]

I strained both of my hamstrings about three months ago, the left much more than the right. The left ham was so bad that my left butt cheek hurt when sitting in a chair. Tried ice and heat, neither of which seemed to help.

Saw an athletic trainer. (Athletic trainers are the ones who you see running out onto the field to attend to an injured player.) The two earlier posts by WMarine on this topic are consistent with what the trainer told me. Two things that he emphasized were stretching and strengthening. I've trained my hamstrings for about 30 years and knew that wasn't the problem. But stretching was something that I'd rarely done. So I started to stretch my hamstrings, initially four or five times a day. It took about eight weeks but they're pretty much healed. They probably would've improved sooner but I continued to do sprint workouts.

Now, I always stretch my legs after doing cardio. The trainer also told me to use a roller to massage the hamstrings. Don't have access to one so in between stretches, I massage the hamstrings instead. An added bonus is that I haven't been this flexible in years.

Matt Brzycki
Sergeant (1975-79)

[SlingerDun]

but question is how long should I take off before I start running again...

As much time as you can afford. When you think the torn material has healed...... wait another week, or two. That re-injury scar tissue sure is pesky and troublesome, forever. I been stretching and lengthening muscles before i go to work since about 89' and for the last 13 years have increased to almost everyday whether i'll be working or not. It takes anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. I'd be a stove up cripple without routine stretching

--->Dave

[Supersquishy]

Thanks for the advise!