Hamstring slow healing

[NumberTwo]

To build on what James has conveyed, for any of you who want to successfully work in collegiate or pro environment - where results are paramount - finding out the “right” way is absolutely critical. I will be honest - I do not work in a high pressure environment as James does - in terms of wins and losses - however, I do spend the entire week (10-12 hours per day) finding ways to give athletes a chance to play and contribute on Saturday. In some cases, your job depends on it. Those of us that have the passion and patience to find the “right” way will have success.

Charlie was adamant about the best way to learn how to massage and make a difference: don’t piss around, get in there and rub the muscles. I learn more about an athletes muscles by working them with my hands. You can feel the tonal variations throughout the muscle. You learn how to bring the tone down without beating the hell out of the muscle.

It is sad to hear these stories about individuals with injuries that have carried out over months and have not been addressed properly. James and I do not have the time to rely on the private sector to resolve the injury problems we are faced with. We just have to get it done.

For the past few weeks, massage has solved the following problems:

• Back spasms
• Muscle contusions
• Hamstring strains
• Shin-spints
• Shoulder separations
• Knee problems (MCL, alleged meniscus tear)
• Patellar tendonitis/jumpers knee
• And many more…

I would say we have cut recovery times by 50-80% - and I’m not exaggerating.

@James_Smith

I have long since corresponded with Number Two on the topic of rehab via massage techniques and his words should, in my view, be taken under the strongest advisement.

Of particular importance is something he touches on in the article he provided links to. Those of you, in particular, who work amidst the collegiate and professional sport ranks in CONUS must pay special attention to the following:

While many individuals will say that the prescription requires strengthening protocols, I would go much further to say that an appropriate coordination pattern must be restored. Obviously strengthening is part of the process, but it is a very specific form of strengthening (specificity of velocity, load and order of recruitment). This is why sprinting must be the primary source of work in a hamstring rehabilitation program. It is not a problem that can be adequately resolved in the weight room or physio clinic.

The hamstring rehab I perform on our players who sustain injuries in training camp and practices consists of a great deal of appropriately dosed power-speed drills and graduated sub-max accelerations

As Number Two infers, it is critical that the structures are appropriately ‘strengthened’ and this is not going to happen in the weight room. In fact, the only instance in which ‘strengthening’ via resistance training is needed, in the case of a hamstring pull, is in the event of a tear that causes substantial structural damage to the point that muscle function is inhibited enough to yield atrophy.

Most minor pulls, in which no structural defect or bruising appears, will not even cause a loss in tonic/low speed muscle lengthening strength in the athlete. They’ll only describe pain/inhibition during higher speed/force field based maneuvers. Thus it is the graduated re-introduction of many of the same field based movements that is critical to the rehabilitation.