Joe's hamstring rehab

Injury Clinic
1

I am hoping to get Joe to an invitational on Maui Apr.1, for the 100 and 200; trials friday, finals sat. This would be 8 weeks from injury.

  • today is 3 weeks since injury; mild grade 2 hamstrng strain.

-after 2 weeks of basic rehab, r.i.c.e., plus some mild stretching, massage, and chiro, we did some jogging, warm ups with the team, drills, and 2x10x10m 50% sprints, then next session it was 2x10x15-20m at 50%.
There is tightness but little pain.

Assistant coach (not involved directly with sprinters - but the wise one) says “probably not 'til april 9”, which would be a conference meet, one of 2 prior to states (may 12).

Joe wants Maui; so do I but coach and I share focus on May12.

I know Ben J. came back from hamstring to break world records well within less time, and with the best state of the art R&R .

Any comments for slightly way lower level?

2

I think 8 weeks is possible, but he’s going to need much help along the way. It sounds like he is able to jog with no difficulty. Unfortunately there is probably scar tissue left from the hamstring injury which will retard the strengthening of the muscle. I would suggest ART to help reduce the muscle adhesions and realign the collagen back to its proper place. This can be done along with exercises that targets the hamstrings (isometric with/without resistance, isotonic, eccentric), keeping in mind to slowly increase the challenge for the athlete. A EMS unit would be useful to help strengthen the other muscles and to help with the swelling of the hamstring muscle postworkout, but if I had to put money into one thing, I would put it into ART. It has worked wonders for many people I have worked with!

3

“…8 weeks possible but…” hmmm, damn. You know we sweat these things!

Not sure we have an ART practitioner on our island.
Perhaps a sports therapist for specialized rehab exercises?

Will check it out … thanks

4

Check out the website activerelease.com and you will find 3 chiros that specialize in ART; hopefully one of them are close to you. Let us know how he’s doing!

5

Oahu, Maui, Big Island, yes.
ART? no can do on Kauai.

I did email the few practitioners… one of them turns out to be a friend of the family, and she will phone consult with me upon returning from Iron Man in NZ :slight_smile: next weekend :mad:
That will be 4th week since injury. She says she can give me some tips on working the hamstring.

No line on EMS.

I read a thread by Marshall Burt. Know him?
He suggests increase resistance for leg curls, 5-8 total reps in sets of 2 - to failure.
This he says will increase healing.
I’ll copy and post… fyi

6

Hamstrings Problems

Mechanisms of Hamstring Problems;

– training such that the rate of application of training loads exceeds the rate of adaptation of the tissue.

– failing to strength train the tissue to endure the training loads placed on it.

If the strength of the hamstring tissue is insufficient to match the strength needed to endure your training…you “will” get injured. Full tissue repair cannot occur in a timely manner with rest alone. You’ll need to provide them with a high intensity strength training stimulus to encourage the rapid repair of the affected muscle fibers, and increase of connective tissues between them.

Hamstring curls (lying on your stomach, flexing the knee to curl the lower leg towards the butt) should be done in the range of motion, going from the leg straight moving toward the butt, stopping about halfway there. Use high resistance/weight (doing 5 - 8 reps…cumulative total per training session) preferably in 2 days on, 1 day off, for 1 - 2 weeks. Work with a weight you cannot lift more than 3 times without stopping.

1/4 squat exercise with high weight is effective. Use high resistance/ weight (doing 5 - 8 reps…cumulative total per training session) preferably in 2 days on, 1 day off, for 1 - 2 weeks. Work with a weight you cannot lift more than 3 times without stopping.

Range of motion exercise can be done — such as sitting with legs straight in front of you, and leaning forward till you feel a stretch in lower back and hamstrings. Range of motion exercise should be included to increase the length (number of sarcomeres) of the muscle fibers by holding the stretch once or twice for 2 - 3 minutes on consecutive days, or doing many shorter (15 - 30 seconds) on multiple (30 - 50) occasions throughout a day.

Protein (1.5 - 2.0 grams of proteing per kg of your body weight) and vitamin C comprise portions of the tissues you looking to heal, so their intake should be increased temporarily to improve the rate of healing. You may benefit from temporary zinc 30 - 50mg and magnesium 250mg supplementation as well, since their availability in your tissues will affect the rate of tissue regeneration as well. Following the initial 24-48 hour period of injury, application of heat stimulus (5 - 10 minutes limb water submersion 100-105 degrees F) should be used to increase blood flow and energy production for repair processes. Ingestion of NSAID’s (anti-inflamatories) should be avoided since this will impair recovery, and potentially mask pain, leading one to believe it is ok to return to training. The problem should improve, if not resolve, quickly with strength training (within a few days following 4 back to back strength sessions).

7

the high intensity part reminds me of Mach’s method… only more specific!

8

No need for the hamstring curls…strengthening the lower part of the hamstring is covering for a problem that shouldn’t be there in the first place (low hip height). Charlie wrote about this on another thread. Train the hams as hip extensors.

I’m curious how much Vitamin C should one be taking during an injury. And is contrast (hot/cold) therapy useful?

9

Thanks Schnig…
Good clue: search hip extensor…

Can one do deadlift and/or glute ham raises somehow without lots of equiptment?
Can anyone recomend these type without having to go to the gym?

Assisted stretching of ham; PNF I believe, with contraction on resistance ?

10

Deadlift only needs a bar and some plates. If you do some variations (snatch grip, RDL, straight legged), you don’t even need that many plates with beginners/intermediates.

11

You can do deadlifts with barbells also or anything that offers adequate resistance. Glute/ham raises can be done by eccentric drops and concentric raises on your knees with someone holding your feet. These are quite stressful on the hamstrings, and I wouldn’t suggest doing these until later in the rehab period.

12

am dropping this in from the 400m thread as it is to do with inj. recovery:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelsey
I was thinking about the states this year.
I think that Joe is in a class of his own.
I remeber him coming to Punahou early in the year last year and ran 11.18 electric.
Then his 21.9 and 49.6 at states.
My thinking is this. He can win all three not being at his peak performance.
With that assumption, I would say bring him back slowly. I mean even if he doesn’t begin full speed work until April I still think he can win.
Didn’t you guys come in march of last year. How long had he been training before you guys come over.
I would plan on bringing him back slow and maybe April 2 on Maui. I cant go.
Just some thoughts.
aloha

mahalo Kelsey,
last year we were training about 4-6 weeks with the team, 3 practice meets before we went to Maui (10.99 fat), then we went to Punahou the next week. His GPP last year was varsity football. (this year we ran tempos and some speed for GPP - 4.5 months)

that’s what I am worrying over; how to bring him back.
Consider this if you will:

Should we start all over with 75% tempo and 25% speed work and build a short to long program?

He can jog and stride about 60% about a 1/2 hr. total before he gets some light pain in ham.
We have 3 full weeks before Maui.

The soonest we can possibly be anywhere near ready to risk a full speed sprint would be Maui, 4/1 trials, 4/2 finals. That is 2 days of racing; risky?
(the next oportunity would be the next week, 4/9, kif meet, with meets 4/15, 4/22. 4/29 after. then nothing til states 5/12 ).
That is still 4 meets to get some racing in before states and maybe safer than going to maui and risk pulling ham again.

We came in with 4-5 months of moderate GPP, no weights though.
His coach is pretty much willing to let him dictate his own pace at this point.

thanks for reminding me that if we are cautious we can still get in states and do well.

re: deadlifts and suggested hip and hyper extension lifting, our school trainer says that execution form of these is paramount… we will look into getting some help on these.

13

today we did some 50m strides after 200m jog (in flats)
dull ache in ham during strides
no pain for jog

heat and stretch before
stretch and ice after