Have a 14 yr old who strained lateral hamstring tendon in fotball by getting ankle tackled and pushed backward. PT didn’t work before we started. Low Level Laser, massage and a variety of creams was working great until his HS coach loaded up a hamstring exercise and he re-injured it fairly bad. After about 4 weeks since last injury, progress is slow. Looking for help.
Massage is tough because its right near the tendon. Usually it gets irritated if done too agressively. Heat creams and plastic work a little bit, but as much as it does the muscle belly.
The first strain MRI showed no tearing etc. Any help?
Creams include aspercreme, icy hot cream, traumeel.
Do you have checked him for muscle imbalance between quad/ham and between the two legs?
Stop local massage, give time to the tissue to heal itself, everytime you do a therapy you create a low level inflammation, this is the reason for searching right therapy and techniques.
I’ve just gottem over this injury. It started in late january. I tried to to take my training easy and use ice/heat…etc. However it would only temperarily relieve my pain and would always come back. The only thing that worked was about a two week period of NO activity followed by tempo workouts for about 2 months.
To give you an idea I just started sprinting a few weeks ago. And after this injury I always put on long tights and put on heat rub before every workout. Even when its hot outside i still put long tights on and wear sweat pants over them all through warm up.
I wouldnt suggest any jumps/or even squats for a while. THen eventually integrate them in prior to sprinting.
Although this is not very scientific or exact and im sure there are better faster ways, this is how I did things.
Check also the ITB for tightness. As we know, this can cause problems with knee function which may place tendon’s under additional stress. If the ITB is tight, you may also check to see that muscles on the inner thigh are strong (vastus medialis, maybe also sartorius) enough to prevent lateral domination/shift.
Any lower hamstring problems I’ve encountered were alleviated by a good deal of work on the calf with massage. As mentioned above, avoid direct work into the tendon. Work above and below the injury site to avoid irritation.
Exactly.
Also, some people just refuse to listen to advice - they only do the re-hab stuff you give them to do IF they come in to see you. ie, they wont do extra work them-selfs at home.
I now have the belief with my clients, If I didn’t see them do it, THEY Didn’t do it…
At least until they develop a habbit, which takes a good 6 wks.