Hamstring Issues for more than 2 weeks
So for the last 2 weeks I've had some serious hamstring tightness and pain. This is every day all day type tightness that's mildly uncomfortable when sitting and standing. Walking I don't notice it much. In fact I don't notice the pain when I'm running, it's just sort of tight. Sometimes I have to break up the intervals more so I can stretch it out in between. After running though the tightness and pain is significantly increased for the majority of the day. Biking is fine, though I will say my quads are also tighter than usual and I've had to break up bike intervals a few times to stretch those, but this is less frequent than the run and not painful just uncomfortable. I do leg stretches for at least 10-15 minutes after each workout, and do hourly at work (mainly because they become painful). I've pretty much cut out my run activity the last 2 weeks, and even took a total week off from everything, including biking, hoping to calm it down. No dice, still hurts.
My question is do I just continued to stretch and roll and move forward with the workouts? Should I be cautious with running but going ahead with biking? Do I go to the doctor (which I really don't want to do b/c of issues I'm having with my insurance company, so unless it could be really serious I'd like to avoid this option)? Do I do something else that I'm not currently doing? Is this just something that is going to slowly work itself out as the season progresses?
Any advice, experience would be appreciated as my frustration level is rapidly climbing 
Comments
@ Jennifer, if 'misery loves company' I'm with you on the hamstring thing
...wrote about my pull in my blog http://www.irondaughterirondad.com/...ring-ouch/ 2 weeks ago
Different from yours, in that I'm not getting pain during the day, light running (more like a jog) feels fine, although there's a bit of a tight spot if I think about it...and on a run last Sunday (2 weeks after the initial 'pull'), I felt it 'spasm' a bit, so decided to walk it in...bike has been fine.
I have a business convention next week, so have decided to deal with it on the other side of that if it continues to act up.
Other medical minds here in the forum can give you more specific guidance I'm sure...I _do_ know from years of training that you _really_ don't want to take nagging injuries into the main part of the season, so _much_ better to stand down early, and get it fixed, than risk taking tender parts into the BIG training closer to events.
I had some serious tightness in the hamstring at the beginning of the OS, that rolling and stretching didn't seem to get rid of. I turned a corner with it when I followed the advice about using a tennis ball as illustrated on AthletesTreatingAthletes.com. I used a Stapes "Easy button" (batteries taken out) I had at work and just put it under my hamstring while I sat at work, moving it around to different tight areas. That really helped it release. Also had to be super diligent and stretch, roll every day.
GL!
Bev
1) Have my wife stretch my legs before I run in the evenings. I'm on my back with one leg down, the other up. She steps through (not on me) and stretches my leg back and across...one leg at a time. It's a better stretch than I can do on my own.
2) Yogaletics and Pilates (I have DVDs for both)
3) Tennis ball. I keep one at work and one in the car.
4) Ultrasound. I have one from Home Medic. It works! This is another job for the spouse since it is high up on the hammie. Can you see my SAU debt mounting?
5) Foam roller...least helpful though.
Interestingly, I tore my RIGHT hamstring in my late 20s doing repeat 220s on the track the day after I had done 10x1 mile in 5:20 ... a lifetime ago. I never quite healed from that tear...I could always feel it, especially when running in cold weather. But 20 years later...it just went away. I'm hoping my left hamstring is on a faster timetable!
Since your injury appears to be acute rather than chronic, I recommend you try icing you hamstring immediately after running. Then apply heat 30-60 mins later. Then stretch and use other tools.
Generally speaking - the major problem with most muscle and tendon issues relates to 1) weakness in the muscular system immediately ABOVE in the chain and 2) tightness
you might be doing a great job of doing the stretches, but a couple of quick pointers, and this relates mostly to 2)
try to stretch only AFTER excercises. stretching before has been shown to increase injuries
ice helps. it shuts down the inflammation.
strething when you're not excercising helps. having something under you when seated is a great plus
and you're on the ATA regimen, so usually that's pretty good
as far as 1), we tend to injure certain muscular units, b/c we overwork them to compensate for weakness somewhere higher in the muscular chain. eg, core and glute weakness can lead to hamstring and IT b/c we overcompensate with those units. try strengthening your glutes (especially glut medius), and core (back and abs).
on pen and paper, this is great - easy fix. However, most hamstring injuries take a long time to heal. BE PATIENT
keep me posted
I definitely don't ever stretch before exercising, learned that lesson long ago! But I haven't been icing, so I'll add that to the routine.
I'll try to do some more leg strengthening stuff, I know my hip flexors suck, so I'll do some more stuff to focus on them. I also ordered some new shoes, so I'm hoping that will help too, as my other ones were probably nearing their expiration date.
Hamstring injuries come in two varieties: 1) traumatic as in I was running and felt a pop kind of thing or 2) overuse - gradual onset.
If you've got the latter of the two, you can dig stuff out till the cows come home and it won't do much until you fix the real problem. In the case of the hamstrings, this is usually cooked quads and weak glutes. When they start to fatigue, the hips fall out of alignment. Once that happens, you increase the resting tension of the hammies and then finish them off as you pull the leg through during training versus push down with quads/glutes. The hammie is a victim of compensation.
So digging the hamstrings out is great, but here are some other things to work on:
1) the Hip. you've got to be able to extend it back all the way. I'd bet money that you cannot or that you use your back/the bad hip alignment to do it for you. So, in particular you need to get that mobility back and then build some strength through it to get the coordination that goes with it.
2) Low back/pelvis/core. this goes hand in hand with #1. you need to be able to hold the hips level and push off that hip/back leg. if you can't, you'll keep the hamstrings on stretch all day long and they will surely let you know it in the form of stiffness and pain. When you start to get chronic pain/tightness in that upper insertion point, it means you lost mobility in the tendon from it always being in that bad pelvic position. check out the EN maintenance routine and the total body core video. those are the building blocks to fix this part. master those and then you can build up that hip to get back to normal form and alignment.
3) Be sure to dig out the quad and front of the hip while your at it. maintain the lower leg mobility with calf/hammie stretching.
4) modify your bike set up a bit to help let this heal. Slide the cleats back all the way on your shoes and drop your seat the same distance. This will unweight the calf + hammie. once things heal up, you can switch them back.
Can you explain what you mean by extending my hip all the way back?
@Jen- When you lay flat on your stomach. Can you lift your leg up off the floor (think straight leg with the knee locked) while pushing your hips down into the floor??
Like this-
http://www.ubsportsmed.buffalo.edu/...atsub4.gif
The tricky part is to see if you are truly doing this at the hip or if you are using the low back to cheat. The one sure fire way to tell is to have someone hold the hips down (in the clinic I just lean on their butt with my forearm for example) and then try.
Ultimately, you're running form should have the "big 3"- full hip extension, full knee extension and full big toe loading (meaning you can come all the way up onto your toe).
http://www.athletestreatingathletes...sknee2.jpg
When you do all three of the things above it transfers the workload between the big muscle groups: quad -> glute -> calf. The hamstring doesn't get called in till the end of hip extension when the glute is working 100%. If the glute is not, the hamstring gets called in earlier and earlier. Likewise, if the calf and toe are restricted in mobility or unable to fire all of the way, you will be unable to get into that extended hip position (which shortens your stride and keeps you from using the glutes).
So hip or calf. One of them has to be off if the hamstring is cranky.
@Paul- ; you could be 100% muscle but you still don't get chronic hamstring pain for 4+ years unless something is off. It just doesn't work that way.
Hit up the wiki and new core/maintenance routines and do yourself a favor. Download the total body core routine first before going straight to the lower body stuff. That has a pelvic tilt progresion that works on stabilizing the pelvis as you move into that extended hip position. It's not an outright strength thing, it's a coordination thing and you're trying to isolate the core from the hip. work your way through the progession and a few levels of difficulty (this is all on the sheet) and then start the lower body stuff to really build up the glutes. muscle strength in isolation is cool, but it's got to work with the rest of the body for you to benefit from it.
good luck, Jennifer!
Leigh- amid much laughter in my office with holding my hips down I can do the hip extension, pretty easily. I'm going to start incorporating all your suggestions as I'm sure they will help with the lower body flexibility and strength.
I think I may have isolated the problem. In the past month I've been doing a bunch of dynamic knee exercises to strengthen the areas around my knee ligaments (routine developed by my PT). I started digging out my quad last night, and the inner muscle by my knee (vastus medialis?) was extremely tender and sore, and actually where I noticed my pain and fatigue during my bike (that I could not finish). I might be overworking them and which I'm assuming then caused the issues with my hamstrings (especially since it's both legs the same, which has never happened to me before). I'm going to try a more whole body approach instead of just focusing on hamstrings and see where that gets me.
Thanks for the help!
As a massage guy, it is nice to see that you have found the problem and are working it out...on your own. I have tried to explain "triathlon training lifestyle" to the PT's I network with. Only a few get it...and now only those few get my business. Keep looking at the big picture, and I think what Leigh told you was spot on, so I had nothing to add to it. Keep your focus on the whole body as you do your workouts and look for how the chain is linked together. I am certian you will find that with core strength along with some glute work you will start feeling much better.
Keep up the good work!!!
After reading through some of Leigh's wiki posts, I did an adjustment during my run this morning that seemed to have an immediate impact on my hamstrings. I was doing 2 mile intervals in hilly terrain at a TP + 15" effort, and my hammies started to scream. So I rocked my hips forward a bit (instead of my belly button pointing slightly above the horizon, it was pointing slightly below the horizon) and the hamstring niggling evaporated as my glutes woke up. Through the rest of the run I kept reminding myself "recruit the glutes". Of course, after 18 miles of that, my butt is good and sore, but my hamstrings are nowhere near as bad as they might have been.
Mike