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Help with diagnosing soreness..

txvettxvet
in General Training Discussions

Hi Gang,

I have been experiencing a little soreness on the back side of my right leg, and I can't tell if it is associated with the hamstring or not.  It feels like a band of tightness/soreness running from just under my butt to the back side of my knee.  It gets worse with running speed intervals, and will recede enough between runs that I forget about it.  Ideas?  Treatment?  Thanks for any advice! 

Comments

  • cdntriguycdntriguy
    Kristen. Did you get your issue sorted out? Alot of times your hamstring will compensate for weakness in your quads which will eventually lead to some tightness/soreness from overuse. I believe the ART guys will tell you this if you go to see them. I've run across this a few times and went to see my massage therapist; it turned out to be a referral pain and hitting the right spot in your lower back or glute could solve the problem. No expert here just something that has worked for me.
  • jhbinscjhbinsc

    Did you just start NOS? Increases in intensity can sure cause my hammies to ache. Is it ham or possibly adductors? Back of leg can mean different things. ART, massage or even just foam roller may help if it is an acute issue d/t starting up OS. If chronic, get it checked out!

  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Five years with this same issue in my left leg...sometimes better and sometmes worse. For me it is probably old age but i did get some relief by putting an otc orthotic in my left bike shoe.
  • coop6coop6
    If it's hurting during your interval set, you may want to try a longer warm up to see if you can get it to loosen up better before you put the hammer down.
    I have a similar issue with my right hamstring due to a leg length discrepancy. If the pain persists, that might be something worth checking out. Mine was found during a bike fit, and like Paul, I have an orthotic for one bike shoe. I wasn't able to find something that worked well for my running shoe, so I just live with it but at least I'm not aggravating it with cycling too.

    Good luck!
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    @ Sarah - I'm not sure if my left leg is shorter, but I suspect it might be. My left foot is 1/2 size smaller than the right, and so I thought I would try the orthotic in the left shoe only. I've been able to run much better ever since although I still have soreness/tightness in the left hammie and IT band which I'm always working on.
  • txvettxvet

    Hi team, thanks for all the help.  I have an update but this may run a little long, so bear with me! 

    I'm getting ready to start week 6 of the October OS.  I first started noticing the hamstring pain about 3 weeks ago when running my intevals, but, since it went away quickly after running, I forgot about it in between runs.  Then, last weekend, I really tweaked it when running some hard intervals last Friday night, and then proceeded to run in a metric marathon race (26.2 K) last Sunday.  When that race was over I knew I was in trouble.  I had a lot of soreness in the right hamstring, as well as in the right hip flexors.  I didn't run all week, and just did my bike workouts, but I didn't do the smart thing and get out the ol' foam roller.  Flash forward to today - the plan called for 2x1 mile intervals and 2x1/2 mile.  I warmed up for 2 miles, just jogging along, and even did a few drills to loosen up, but I felt the pain again within 1/4 mile of the first interval.  I ended up canning the speedwork, but continued to run for about 6 miles.  By the end of it I had hip flexor pain, again, and pain at the top of the hamstring, just under the glutes, and kind of lateral.  When I slowed to a walk there is pain/pulling all along the length of the right hamstring.

    Soooo, I did the right thing, and got out the foam roller and TP massage ball this afternoon, and used them.  I am concentrating more on stretching.  I'm assuming speedwork is out for a week or two.  I have a chiropracter I like and trust, and may get him involved. 

    Any other ideas for me?  Any specific core work I should be doing?

    Thanks so much!

  • DocHoffartDocHoffart
    Hi Kristen.

    It sounds like you are starting to create compensatory issues with muscles that maybe were not the original problem by not fixing the original Biomechanical or muscular/tissue injury. Order of operations in my practice is to correct the tissue/biomechanics before commencing exercise (no speed work in your case). It's all about load and capacity. The dysfunctional tissue needs to be corrected as it is limiting your capacity to train. Adding too much load is creating hip flexor and likely rectus fem issues will follow, which will mess with your bike leg.

    Foam roll, ART provider and limit speed work until you get the dysfunctional tissue corrected.

    Vince
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