Lately I’ve been having problems with my hamstrings… in the last two months I have injuried my hamstrings 3 times ( 2 on right, 1 on left).
All of them were very small pulls … took me max 1 week to get 100 % back to training.(never had a big pull in hamstring) But still they are coming back, as it did yesterday… i felt it a bit when i was stretching my hamstring, and more when I did leg swings as a part of sprint-warmup. Then I went home and iced it. I can feel a light pain and weekness when I move my heel up to my glutes, and I know that I can sprint tomorrow or saturday. But after a week or 2 I know that it MAY come back, especially when I feel a little fatigued in my hamstring, then I KNOW that the risk is there for a new light pull… but I want to sprint so much that I “gamble” with it… stupid, but I dont know when I should stop .
What am I doing wrong? How can I prevent it? I need serious help…
thanks…
You should never do anything that causes any pain or tighness in your hamstrings, as this will sooner or later lead to injury. I would first of all rest the hamstrings for a week or two only doing some light stretching exercises (if those don’t produce any pain).
Keep in mind that the more often you injure a muscle the more scar tissue builds up making the muscle weaker, less flexible and more injury prone with every time.
I would also go to a physio/chiro/massage therapist to get cross friction done on the areas were you have scars in your muscles from previous exercises. After having been pain free for a few days you can then start to slowly build up strength (and flexibility) in your hamstrings again.
Have a look at the hamsting injury threat in the strength training section for some tips on how to do that.
The most important thing with all of this is that you never do anything that produces pain.
Regards,
Robin.
Thanks! I dont think this is/was such a serious injury, that I have to take 2 weeks off… now that I have trained myself into good shape after a cold and other small injuries. I’ll try to sprint tomorrow or saturday… I think it will go nice, but I have to know what I should do during my training program to prevent new injury on the same spot. I do weights and sprint same day with tempo or tempo&off before next weight/sprint session.
Or am I making a big mistake here?
I believe that I can balance things, so that I can keep on training and at the same time recovering my hamstring
I’ll agree with Robin on this one. Just the fact that you continue to have minor problems tells me you need to see someone. I had many of the same problems in college. I finally saw a Chiropractor and got my hips into alignment. That, plus ultrasound, stim, and massage, and I was good as new. Don’t wait until a minor problem turns into a big one. See someone now.
“I have to know what I should do during my training program to prevent new injury on the same spot.”
As mentioned what you need to do is avoid things that produce pain in your hamstring, even if that pain is only mild.
“Or am I making a big mistake here?”
You might very well be! I made that same mistake some time ago and the results was that I pulled my hamstring twice within six weeks.
If you rest now you’ll only miss out on a few high intensity workouts during the next few weeks if you don’t it might be a whole season.
Regards,
Robin
Thanks… Today I don’t feel anything in my hamstring and seem to be recovered… maybe I thought it was more serious than it actually was…
I need advice on how much I should stretch the hamstring and how often I should self massage it. (or my mother.) In the following days I’ll do high intensity work but use more recovery so I don’t get that fatigued and tight in hamstring…so we have to wait and see. I’ll be careful.
Thoughts? I’m sure many on this board have experience with this type of problems.
So, let me get this straight, your massaging your mother…?
Hihi. The other way around 
So people… for this kind of problems :
for preventing new injury would a light self massage every day when I wake up be good?
Stretching? more stretching? Light stretching of hamstring after massage?
Need advice!
I will just let you know that my hamstring problems has gone away because I started with microstretching… and my inner thigh problems too… and thanks to Flash who showed me a way to stretch the deep internal and external rotator muscles. I have had extremely much problems with the internal rotator muscles… and now after stretching it it’s all good!! 
The right type of stretching is alfa/omega for me! and here microstretching was the right, because its mild on my muscles so I dont get microtears as I did with the harder stretching.
Could you describe the stretches you used and the technique?
thanks,
Chris
Yes… I started with microstretching on my trouble spots only… it takes too long time if I’m going to do it on all the muscles.
I do the inner thigh stretch and the hamstring stretch. 1 minute hold, 30-40 % of max stretch(100% = pain) x 3. On the other muscle groups I just do regular stretching 30 sec one time.
How you do the stretches and more info : http://www.geocities.com/stretchthe...Flexibility.PDF
The CF discussion on that here: http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=130&page=1&pp=15&highlight=microstretching