thanx no23;) if my hamstring doesnt benefit from stopping the creatine and the correct treatment…At least i can “Quote on Quote” now ! 
thanx man
Tomo1
Well Tomo … all the info you need for a damaged H/s should be on this thread I’d print out each page and re-read it … to be honest whatever you’ve got here and a good therapist is all you should need.
But just to stress once more - a good therapist is worth their weight in gold…
Couple of things:
Firstly- the OP mentioned ‘…Ice at 20 mins intervals…’. How long should each ‘icing’ last for?
Secondly, I’ve taken diclofenac on prescription. I know it will depend on dose etc, but it made me incredibly drousy. It was like being drunk. Be careful if you’ve never taken it before and intend to drive etc.
This is a great thread…had i seen this I wouldn’t have A) got injured B) know how to treat the injury i have. A few questions: No body has mentioned Neural problems leading to Hammie injuries (this is what I have) Initially I thought it was the tendon (behind the knee) but after a few appointments with my physio she has diagnosed it as neural and more than likely coming from the lower part of the spine. What are your feelings/opinions on chiropractors? Its been suggested that I see one to ‘crack and re-align my back’. I’ve heard a few stories about athletes who have seen chiropractors and have come out worse or run worse because of the work done. I’ve tried taking time out of training (2 weeks)in which i iced,massaged,ems’ed, anti-flamed but i’m still plagued by the pains around the tendon attachment area of BOTH hammies…the weird thing is during a comp, if I do a full blown pre race run (ie near full race pace) the pain subsides and I’m able to run fast…but if I don’t…there’s trouble and both legs seize up with pain while I’m up and running (please note:during the drive phase when the recovery of the lower leg in minimal there is no pain). This is frustrating because I’m having to exert a lot of energy pre race to rid my legs of this neural pain, leaving me semi fatigued!! Its kinda like running 2 100m races back to back. The pain would then only come back at night when the tendons and muscles are returning to ‘normal’ length.
Its also very interesting to hear/see views on stopping Creatine while nursing such injuries. This was also another suggestion made by my physio as she said that creatine can ‘strangle the nerves’. Has anyone noticed improvements in hammie recovery whilst stopping creatine? When you cycled it back into your diet again did the symptoms re-appear? Charlie have you come across neural injuries? hows did you treat them? Chiropractors are very expensive…will i get my monies worth? Please help guys!! The rest of my season depends on it!!
Whether neural or otherwise, the impingment must be relieved. Creatine causes the muscle to draw in fluid, which can cause swelling and therefore nerve impingment. As loss of muscle cell volume is one of the effects of overtraining, then a small amount of creatine can help maintain the proper fluid cell volume, but too much is clearly a problem. Manual therapy to free up the fascia and break up any muscle knots is essential, and no machine or other sort of therapy can replace it.
Charlie are you suggesting that I stop the creatine use for now and see a chiropractor and massuse for deep tissue massage work?
Yes to all.
Thanks Charlie…I’ll keep you and the guys here posted with my progress!
i strained my hammy last wed and i ddont know exactly what to do…
I used EMS pulsing mode and some kind of heat therapy(infra red light).
Should i also use ice???
and what about light jogging?
Please: some answerd would be great!
pjb,
depending on when your injury happened and its severity have a look at this thread and especially the first post by no23!
You’ve posted on a thread most people would refer to on a similar question; you are in this thread…
Good luck!
I coach a highly qualified Physiotherapist trained in sports therapy she reccomends ice treatment immediately after occurrence (or asap) 5 minutes on with the ice 5 minutes off. Do this for 25 minutes, then as soon as home from the track commence the 20minutes ‘on’ treatment every 2 hours. Regarding Osteopath/Chiropactors, I visit a good one but have heard some horror stories. As with anything you spend money on ask around before you try. Check them out, find out if they talk sense or bulls**t.
Ice should go on for 20 mins immediately post injury to prevent excessive oedema and the 2ndry injury phenonmenom
There are a number of things to consider - most importantly is the degree of injury.
So keep the ice on at the start for at least 20 minutes.
Also - compression of the injury site and muscle is vital in this time period - in some cases more important than ice.
After that it’s down to the nature of the injury.
I have a question Mr. Francis:confused:
During the rehabilitation of my hamstring and popliteus my private coach did a pool conditing session that pumped the lymphatic system after each massage. The coach gave me a copy of the ebook and I could not find anything!!! He refered to a manual from Waldmere that was translated from russian to english and used much of the information from the book.
Sorry I’m not Charlie - but this might be some help -
The lympathic system is another circulatory system but with one difference - it hasn’t a pump per se -i.e. it needs energy or movement to move the fluid.
The LS helps flush oedema and waste products out of injury sites so by doing poolwork the coach may have been hoping the movement would help the flushing of the lympathic system.
The fact is if he had just got using his hands a with a little oil - he could have done a far better job than even using the pool - so I don’t see why the pool was used at all.
No23,
Thank you for your help. The coach said that the pool workout moves the waste products better than massage because it’s total body or something.
Not sure what this is about but Waldemar isn’t Russian, he’s Polish and he hasn’t released anything in English.
Pool work can aid in flushing though the massage will have already done the lion’s share of the work. Hot and cold contrast treatments will certainly help as well and Waldemar was big on them.
Perhaps he/she means that that the pool work will help remove/flush out the waste products already mobilized by the massage. (Sounds like massage is done first as part of the protocol)
Keep the water intake up as well during these treatments.
THANKS!!! 
You and Waldemere have saved my career. Thanks for your superb books and advice.
Do you know if he has released something in Polish (or other languages) ??
He wrote a section for the CFTS manual you can get from the site store. He also published some material in Poland but I don’t have it (and couldn’t read it!)