# Hamstring Pull....Again



## VelvetUnderpants (28 Jun 2020)

I am looking for advice regarding a niggling hamstring problem. I went for a run this morning intending to do 7.5 miles around 4.5 miles I felt the familier tightness then pain in my right hamstring. I slowly walked home and I have iced it a couple of times today. I always warm up before I run with dynamic stretches and spend 15 mins afterwards doing static stretches, particularly targeting my hamstrings. I do not stretch on no running days, I run three or four days a week, running 7.5 x2 or x3 and a hill run for twenty mins.

This is the third time it has happened and I am getting properly fed up with it recurring. I would see a physio but none of them are doing face to face due to Covid, so I am asking for advice for recovery e.g. good videos, articles or personal advice etc to help.

Thanks


----------



## vickster (29 Jun 2020)

VelvetUnderpants said:


> I am looking for advice regarding a niggling hamstring problem. I went for a run this morning intending to do 7.5 miles around 4.5 miles I felt the familier tightness then pain in my right hamstring. I slowly walked home and I have iced it a couple of times today. I always warm up before I run with dynamic stretches and spend 15 mins afterwards doing static stretches, particularly targeting my hamstrings. I do not stretch on no running days, I run three or four days a week, running 7.5 x2 or x3 and a hill run for twenty mins.
> 
> This is the third time it has happened and I am getting properly fed up with it recurring. I would see a physio but none of them are doing face to face due to Covid, so I am asking for advice for recovery e.g. good videos, articles or personal advice etc to help.
> 
> Thanks


I’m seeing a physio face to face tomorrow. I had the initial appt by video last week, which worked fine. Why not have a video appointment to get the diagnosis and rehab programme?

Are you doing a lot of cycling, a common culprit for shortened, tight hamstrings. Assume you have a stretching programme? Have you tried heat as well as ice?


----------



## Saluki (29 Jun 2020)

Do you warm up and stretch before running?
I do hip flexor leans and then then hamstring stretches.
Kneel on left leg with right leg at the front and lean right forward to feel the hip flexor stretch, then back to feel the right hamstring stretch. Forward and backwards for about a minute or so, as its a dynamic stretch. Swap legs and do the same again.
I find that this helps me no end.


----------



## VelvetUnderpants (30 Jun 2020)

Saluki said:


> Do you warm up and stretch before running?
> I do hip flexor leans and then then hamstring stretches.
> Kneel on left leg with right leg at the front and lean right forward to feel the hip flexor stretch, then back to feel the right hamstring stretch. Forward and backwards for about a minute or so, as its a dynamic stretch. Swap legs and do the same again.
> I find that this helps me no end.


I will definitely give that a try, I have not done any stretches since I pulled it. I am going to tentatively start gentle stretching today, I am hoping that if its just a small injury I may be able to try a gentle run/walk in a week or so.


----------



## Saluki (2 Jul 2020)

VelvetUnderpants said:


> I will definitely give that a try, I have not done any stretches since I pulled it. I am going to tentatively start gentle stretching today, I am hoping that if its just a small injury I may be able to try a gentle run/walk in a week or so.


Have a look on YouTube for the ‘strength temple’. Nice yoga chap into stretches and sports mobility exercises.


----------



## VelvetUnderpants (2 Jul 2020)

I will certainl check out strength temple, thanks. I was looking up recurring hamstring pulls and apparently it can be problems with the glutes as well as inadequate warm up and stretching, so I will definately try to improve these issues, as this will set me back two or more weeks.


----------



## kingrollo (26 Jul 2020)

Where does it go ? Is it the upper hamstring , If so you may need hamstring strength rather than stretched.
I would take the hit and see a good sports physio as advised above.


----------



## VelvetUnderpants (16 Aug 2020)

kingrollo said:


> Where does it go ? Is it the upper hamstring , If so you may need hamstring strength rather than stretched.
> I would take the hit and see a good sports physio as advised above.




Sorry I forgot to reply.

No, it tends to be my lower hamstring. I have changed my running routine, I do fewer miles, with split neg runs and gentle recovery runs. Since following this routine I have not picked up any more hamstring twinges.


----------



## Drago (16 Aug 2020)

Saluki said:


> Do you warm up and stretch before running?
> I do hip flexor leans and then then hamstring stretches.
> Kneel on left leg with right leg at the front and lean right forward to feel the hip flexor stretch, then back to feel the right hamstring stretch. Forward and backwards for about a minute or so, as its a dynamic stretch. Swap legs and do the same again.
> I find that this helps me no end.


The biggest study - massive, in fact - into warming up involved two separate batallions of US marines over a 12 month period - one lot warmed up before daily exercise, the other did not, and there was no difference in injury rates between the two groups. So the biggest live experiment ever conducted into the matter, involving nearly 2000 subjects, completely contradicted the perceived wisdom.

See a good sports therapist as opposed to just a physio. Once it is properly healed get them to give you some exercises to strengthen them.

Good luck.


----------



## Saluki (16 Aug 2020)

Drago said:


> The biggest study - massive, in fact - into warming up involved two separate batallions of US marines over a 12 month period - one lot warmed up before daily exercise, the other did not, and there was no difference in injury rates between the two groups. So the biggest live experiment ever conducted into the matter, involving nearly 2000 subjects, completely contradicted the perceived wisdom.
> 
> See a good sports therapist as opposed to just a physio. Once it is properly healed get them to give you some exercises to strengthen them.
> 
> Good luck.


That’s really interesting. My legs feel really tight if I don’t warm up. Maybe I warm up because it was drummed into us during school PE.


----------



## Drago (17 Aug 2020)

I don't function so well without a warm up, and my knackered side benefits from a better range of motion if I warm up, but the evidence suggests that not warming up doesn't contribute to injury.


----------



## faster (21 Aug 2020)

Drago said:


> The biggest study - massive, in fact - into warming up involved two separate batallions of US marines over a 12 month period - one lot warmed up before daily exercise, the other did not, and there was no difference in injury rates between the two groups. So the biggest live experiment ever conducted into the matter, involving nearly 2000 subjects, completely contradicted the perceived wisdom.
> 
> See a good sports therapist as opposed to just a physio. Once it is properly healed get them to give you some exercises to strengthen them.
> 
> Good luck.



Sounds like a good study, but only really of any relevance to marines, and maybe others who are similarly young, very fit and exercise daily.

If they repeated the study with two separate battalions of accountants, on the wrong side of 40 and who drive a desk for 8 hours a day, I suspect they would get a very different result.


----------



## Drago (21 Aug 2020)

Do you know of a study into "warming up" that uses a larger experimental and control sample, of people of any age?

No, you don't, because there isn't one.

I'm afraid all you - or I - can do outside of that is speculate. Where large scale evidence _does_ exist it shows no injury reduction benefit to warming up. Anything else is speculation, and it is concerning to see you speculating and coming to a conclusion with no evidence whatsoever to support your assertion.


----------



## T.M.H.N.E.T (21 Aug 2020)

A warm-up and a stretch aren't the same thing, generally


----------



## cyberknight (21 Aug 2020)

I think it also depends on what activity your going to be doing , i wouldn't have liked to have been doing high kicks when i was doing martial arts without a loosen up .
Maybe you can perform without injury although as @T.M.H.N.E.T says the effects on performance would be interesting and any tests would need to be performed long term to see any cumulative effects from no warm up .


----------



## Drago (21 Aug 2020)

T.M.H.N.E.T said:


> A warm-up and a stretch aren't the same thing, generally


That depends what physical activity it is intended to be preparatory for. Impoving the blood flow to the target area _prior_ to stretching was the norm when I boxed and did TKD, and were part of the same preparatory activity.


----------



## T.M.H.N.E.T (21 Aug 2020)

Drago said:


> That depends what physical activity it is intended to be preparatory for. Impoving the blood flow to the target area _prior_ to stretching was the norm when I boxed and did TKD, and were part of the same preparatory activity.


Hence "generally". The industry definition of a warmup is to prepare the body for exercise(by raising HR and increasing blood flow *even for anaerobic effort where HR will lag), which is the best way to prepare it for stretching as warm + supple tissue with blood blow is the easiest to manipulate..

Apply that to running, a 5k plod with no warmup is harder on you physically than a lighter jog to raise HR then easing into the main run, a 10mi club TT is harder on you with no pre-ride or effort, a 400m set in the pool is very hard without an easier set to raise HR and/or dryside banded activation, pulling 300x5 off the floor isn't going to be easy without working up to it.

You know the drill


----------



## faster (22 Aug 2020)

Drago said:


> Do you know of a study into "warming up" that uses a larger experimental and control sample, of people of any age?
> 
> No, you don't, because there isn't one.
> 
> I'm afraid all you - or I - can do outside of that is speculate. Where large scale evidence _does_ exist it shows no injury reduction benefit to warming up. Anything else is speculation, and it is concerning to see you speculating and coming to a conclusion with no evidence whatsoever to support your assertion.



What a bizarre post.

Thank you for your concern, but nothing in my post offered any sort of conclusion and no assertion was made.

All I've suggested is that it is unwise to generalise to such a degree. Like it or not, two battalions of marines is not representative of the population at large, or indeed people on this forum. The evidence presented is relevant to marines (or others with similar physical attributes) doing marine-ey things only, and in this context should at the very least be treated with caution, but more likely be dismissed as worthless. 

That's not speculation - that's a fact.

If being concerned about speculation and forming conclusions based on no evidence whatsoever is your sort of thing, I suggest you head over to the 'Helmet Discussions' part of the forum - you can't move for that sort of stuff there. 

It's pretty much all the anti-helmet brigade have to go on.


----------

