Hamstring Tear (Grade II): Questions

It might be an adhesion breaking loose as ROM is increased back towards normal. you need to get it checked to find out.

I tweaked my left hamstring again. Different hamstring, luck is not on my side. However, I was able to massage it out myself. I found the knot and worked on it. Then I used charlies protocol of wrapping the leg with theraputic gel. It healed itself. Good luck.

Would the hamstring be painful the next day if it was adhesion breaking loose?

Ravadongon

Did you follow Charlies rehab for the hammy injury? That ie doing 10m controlled accellerations increasing by 2m increments etc out to where you could accellerate to your normal limit b4 discomfort.It may be that even at 60 to 70% tempo fatigue and that speed could have been too much for the hammy.

We have found without exception that Charlies routine works for hammys quads and calves if carefully followed and near top speed accellerations could be carried out in about 10 days. Higher speed/distances volumes are added with care till full recovery is obvious.

Good luck,hope this helps.

Thanks for the response. My rehab started with RICE -> regaining basic function (being able to stretch without significant pain, being able to flex the knee, stretch the quads etc.) -> basic warm-ups (calisthenics, mobility work etc.) -> strength work -> jogging -> tempo runs //(-> hills -> flat ground accelerations - which I didn’t get upto doing because I reinjured when starting with tempos).

So would you say it’s a bad idea to introduce tempo before being able to maximally accelerate as I was before the injury?

Ravadongan,

I dont know that tempo runs b4 proven recovery exists is a bad idea per see, its just that the speed of them at that stage may be still to fast if the hammy has not reached full operating efficiency .

Charlies recovery method maintains that the level of recovery is dictated by the distance that an athlete can safely accelerate from a standing start commencing at 10m and increasing by 2 to 5m increments.

“Running speed is determined by the distance over which the athlete is able to accelerate”

Pages 165/166 in cfts refers also a search of the archives here will give more detail on this subject.

others?

Ravadongon,
can you give more details on the strength and tempo work you followed? Thanks!

Strength work was structured as (took me ~4 sessions each to progress back up to the weights I was using prior to injury):

  • Zercher Squat or SG Deads - 3 x 3-5
  • Weighted Push-up variations - 3 x 5-10
  • Upper Back Pull lift (e.g. supine rows, pull ups etc.) - 3 x 5-10
  • Hip Extension lift or Unilateral Leg Exercise - 3 x 5-10

My first tempo session (where I pulled the hammy again) was 5 x 100m @ ~65% (after a warm-up - foam roller -> static stretching - HF/quads, calves, hip rotators, adductors -> glute activation -> 800m jog ). I think I might’ve made the reps too far, too early? Or maybe too much volume? Should’ve eased into it better… The hammy felt good on the day (glutes were a little sore for some reason though? - maybe that would’ve been a problem…) and can’t really remember any clear warning signs (maybe one early on the 5th rep).

Also, I started wearing compression leggings at training sessions since last month, just a week before my first ham injury and also wore them the other day when I re-injured. Could they have something to do with this?

It might be.

You are not alone in suspecting that strengthening an action that doesn’t require strength in the first place is a large part of the problem.

Charlie, would you say that Glute Ham Raises, which are talked up by a lot of ‘well regarded’ strength coaches, are a ‘bad’ exercise for sprinters/athletes that are prone to hamstring problems?

Bump. Any ideas about this and whether the compression leggings could be a factor/problem for me?