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Hamstring tear (I fear) advice please

589 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 4 days ago by bigtruckguy3500
Catag94
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AG
In warmups for working out today, while doing some stretches to focus on hamstrings, I experienced the following:

-Audible, and certainly felt pop right behind the knee.
-Instant pain
-Impaired walking
-Went inside and asked my wife if anything looked wrong with the back of either leg. She pointed out a small bruise and touched exactly wear this occurred.
-Minimal swelling at back of knee or just above.
-I can walk but definitely careful with range of motion and stretching of the hamstring.


Thanks in advance. Im not youngster and I've never torn/pulled a muscle.


bigtruckguy3500
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I've heard good things about getting it dry needles by a physical therapist early. In my personal experience, hamstrings can take a long time to heal. I'd definitely suggest PT early to keep you on track and keep you from reinjuring.
Capitol Ag
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AG
First, wait to worry. Likely a partial tear at worst, as a full tear would be catastrophic. It will require some rehab but could heal without too much work. After a few days, IF it still hurts, have a Dr. who is a sports specialist look at it. He or she is the only qualified person who can see what's actually wrong here and give you options. The fact is, PTs can only do so much. But I lean toward the evidence based fitness community. Pts can help, but as most studies show, you likely get the most out of the first visit and take that info and work on you own doing the exercises they show you. But, it's your call on that. Physical therapy won't hurt you. But a lot of PTs are full of BS too. But some are very good. Depends on who you get...Adam Meakins is a great PT to follow. He uses evidence and calls out a lot of BS.

A few questions, what warm ups were you doing that caused the injury? I hate to hear the injury happened in the warm up, the very thing that is supposed to help prevent injury.

Here is my advice on warming up. At this point, I almost don't do any warmups that aren't exercise specific. So, for instance, if I have seated hamstring curls, I don't go to the mat and do 15 "mobility" exercises. I literally get on the machine, do a 30 rep max weight (ie something light) and do 10-15 slow, methodical reps and work up from there. Each rep done as if you were doing your target weight. I do this 2-3 more full sets of around 8, 5, and 3 reps on the last warmup set and then do my target weight 1st real set. This is if the exercise is the first one. Usually I only need 1-2 warmup sets for any exercise after that. The key is "warming" the muscle up. Anything else, honestly, is overkill and likely useless unless its a brisk walk on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike or elliptical for about 5 minutes, especially if its cold out side. Now, there are some specific situations where more maybe necessary. So those are on a case by case basis. And sometimes its a good way to get your mindset right, if anything. It can get you dialed in. And don't get me started on the uselessness of foam rolling. The science just doesn't back up any of the claims. But, the one good thing about foam rolling is it warms up the body due to the way you have to hold yourself in different positions while rolling. Otheerwise, pretty mush every study on the potential benefits of foam rolling show is being useless.

Capitol Ag
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AG
bigtruckguy3500 said:

I've heard good things about getting it dry needles by a physical therapist early. In my personal experience, hamstrings can take a long time to heal. I'd definitely suggest PT early to keep you on track and keep you from reinjuring.
There is no good evidence that dry needling does anything to help heal an injury. Again, if a patient thinks it helps, that alone may offer some relief, but most studies show nothing actually happening regarding healing or pain relief. Again, I will likely piss off some with this, but until there are really well done studies creating enough meta analysis showing evidence to support benefits for treatments like dry needling, dry cupping, acupuncture, massaging, tissue scraping etc, I would categorize these treatments as useless at this point. There are much better treatments out there...
GeorgiAg
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AG
Ten years ago, I had the same but with my IT band. I heard a loud audible pop and then had a HUGE bruise on the side of my hip and going down my leg. (I have a pic but doubt y'all wanna see a pic of my hairy butt). It's the size of a dinner plate.

Yoga chick gave me some good stretches and I worked through it.
Catag94
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AG
Thank you all.

I work out daily (sometimes miss due to schedule) following the MTN Tough app. The workouts I do require minimal equipment (few dumbbells, kettle bells, box or cooler, bench, pull-up bar, and sometimes my backpack). It's coach led (watching the tv screen) and they do certain warms up each day.
Yesterday, warm ups include what MTN Tough calls dyno kicks. Basically, while standing flat, you kick one leg up and out straight while reaching to it like a toe reach, then when you bring it down, you take it straight behind you and up, and bend at the waist reaching toward you standing foot. Next kick, you change legs.

It was doing this and standing on left leg, kicking up and then back the right leg that when I reach to the left foot, it popped.

Today, pain is minimal and walking is awkward but doable with minimal pain.

I like the idea of rest and see how it goes, but I have scheduled a PT appointment for Friday just to get started with basic therapy.

It is certainly not torn from the bone and I suspect just needs some good nurturing to heal.
GeorgiAg
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AG
Good plan. RICE

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. PT would be good to get the best stretches.
bigtruckguy3500
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Yeah, placebo effect is very powerful. Would be a very difficult task to create a study with enough power that shows statistical significance while maintaining blinding.

I'm a fan of dry needling, personally. I feel it makes a difference when Ive had it done. I don't think it's a cure all. But I've known several PTs that have anecdotally states that they can often get athletes back to activity quickly if they needle the strain shortly after injury.
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