Help for Hamstring Strain

[kateskate]

Hi.  I've been dealing with a hamstring injury since around April of this year.  I thought it was just a pulled muscle at the time, so I continued to skate.  But the pain gradually got worse and I'm still having pain.  I've seen 3 doctors since then and have been in physical therapy for 2 months.  I also had an MRI recently that revealed a mild hamstring strain.  My hamstring has gotten a little better and has gotten stronger from all of the physical therapy but I'm still having pain.  And I've taken about 6 weeks off of skating and it's just doesn't seem to be getting much better.  And the pain seems more like it's a severe hamstring strain than mild.  I've had some people suggest taking magnesium and potassium pills to help with the muscles and I had another person suggest taking MSM tablets or using the MSM cream.  But when I looked up MSM, it can cause some side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, etc...  So I've been hesitant about using that but at this point, I'm willing to try almost anything!  And my physical therapist wants me to try dry needling.....ouch!  I'm beginning to think that he has run out of ideas since my hamstring isn't responding that well to treatment.  Has anyone tried any of these things?  Or does anyone have any other suggestions of things I can try?  I've even had a person suggest going to the Hughston Clinic.  But I'm afraid that going to a 4th doctor might not help at all.  I hate not being able to skate and I want to return to the ice as quickly as I can.  This is affecting my off ice life as well b/c I can't sit at my desk for more than 30 minutes at a time without having terrible pain.  Thank you for any help that you can offer! 

[Live2Sk8]

You might look into platelet rich plasma injections (PRP).  It probably won't be covered by your insurance.  I know someone who had it for a bad hamstring tear, and it helped.  The person was off the ice for about 6 weeks and had to do physical therapy for a few months after the injection.

[kateskate]

I have heard about that but don't know much about it.  I will definitely check it out, though.  Thank You 

[fsk8r]

If it's hurting while you're sitting, I'm not certain it's your hamstring as you're not using the muscles much (although I'm not a medic). Can you describe where the pain actually is? It might help with us giving you ideas.

[Query]

Is your PT any good? I've been told that some PTs are A LOT better than others - and that most of the ones that are good for athletes specialize in sports medicine. Maybe you could ask around to see if there is one other athletes like, especially flexibility sport athletes like skaters and dancers.

If it's hurting while you're sitting, I'm not certain it's your hamstring as you're not using the muscles much (although I'm not a medic).

Sitting can sometimes be a stretch. A hamstring stretch exercises my PT has given me is to sit with a very erect posture (which I usually don't have) with one leg unbent, in front of me with the heel on the floor. Then I bend forward at the waist, while maintaining the erect posture, to create the stretch.

That's only a stretch for me because I'm not very flexible. But if I understand correctly, a strain can leave you with scar tissue in the middle of the strained muscle or in the middle of sprained ligament - which effectively reduces your flexibility in that muscle or ligament. It takes a long time to work out the scar tissue, and it's possible you shouldn't do that while the scar tissue is still holding things together.

(No, I'm not suggesting you heal your strain by stretching. At least, not without proper medical advice - you can make the injury a lot worse.)

I once had a bad sprain - maybe partly hamstrings, but definitely other things too - from a backwards ski fall that forced my hips wide open (it would have been a completely gentle, much practiced fall in skates, but skis are too long for that), which my hips simply cannot do. It took 5 or 6 months of relative inactivity to heal. Like you, I initially made it substantially worse by trying to ignore it, and skated afterwards.

I'm willing to try almost anything!

It sounds like my 5 or 6 months of inactivity isn't something you are willing to try... You want a quick fix which puts you back on the ice fast. This may be out of date, but textbooks (I'm not medically trained, BTW) at least used to say any major injury takes at least 6-12 months to completely heal, including "remodeling" the new tissue, even if you do everything right, including rest and starting to ice the injury within the first 30 minutes or so, and so on. Maybe longer.

I hope you find a better answer.  But maybe it will just take time, and rest, to heal.

Take care!

[kateskate]

If it's hurting while you're sitting, I'm not certain it's your hamstring as you're not using the muscles much (although I'm not a medic). Can you describe where the pain actually is? It might help with us giving you ideas.

I know for sure that it's a hamstring strain b/c I had an MRI that showed that.  When I sit, it hurts in a lateral area of muscles between where the glutes end and the thigh starts.  When I'm not sitting, it will often hurt further down in the hamstring muscles.  Like I said, I know the hamstring is hurt for sure but I suppose I could have a 2nd issue on top of that that affects me when I sit.  But the pt doesn't seem to think so.  When I tell him that it hurts at different spots at different times he said that all of these areas are related to each other.  Thank You    

[kateskate]

Is your PT any good? I've been told that some PTs are A LOT better than others - and that most of the ones that are good for athletes specialize in sports medicine. Maybe you could ask around to see if there is one other athletes like, especially flexibility sport athletes like skaters and dancers.

Sitting can sometimes be a stretch. A hamstring stretch exercises my PT has given me is to sit with a very erect posture (which I usually don't have) with one leg unbent, in front of me with the heel on the floor. Then I bend forward at the waist, while maintaining the erect posture, to create the stretch.

That's only a stretch for me because I'm not very flexible. But if I understand correctly, a strain can leave you with scar tissue in the middle of the strained muscle or in the middle of sprained ligament - which effectively reduces your flexibility in that muscle or ligament. It takes a long time to work out the scar tissue, and it's possible you shouldn't do that while the scar tissue is still holding things together.

(No, I'm not suggesting you heal your strain by stretching. At least, not without proper medical advice - you can make the injury a lot worse.)

I once had a bad sprain - maybe partly hamstrings, but definitely other things too - from a backwards ski fall that forced my hips wide open (it would have been a completely gentle, much practiced fall in skates, but skis are too long for that), which my hips simply cannot do. It took 5 or 6 months of relative inactivity to heal. Like you, I initially made it substantially worse by trying to ignore it, and skated afterwards.

It sounds like my 5 or 6 months of inactivity isn't something you are willing to try... You want a quick fix which puts you back on the ice fast. This may be out of date, but textbooks (I'm not medically trained, BTW) at least used to say any major injury takes at least 6-12 months to completely heal, including "remodeling" the new tissue, even if you do everything right, including rest and starting to ice the injury within the first 30 minutes or so, and so on. Maybe longer.

I hope you find a better answer.  But maybe it will just take time, and rest, to heal.

Take care!

I have a good sport medicine Pt.  I know some other ice skaters that have been to see him.  He isn't letting me do many stretches right now.  The stretches seem to irritate it a lot but I know before I return to the ice I'll have to be able to do some stretches.  I think that's how I got into this mess in the first place......I was bad about not stretching before going out on the ice.  I thought I didn't have time for that, but I urge every skater to make the time, it's not worth the risk of injury not to do a warmup of some type like stationary bike and then stretching.  I was told to never stretch cold muscles, you need to warm up first or else you could get hurt that way too!  Anyway, I'm definitely anxious to return to the ice but I don't want to re-injure myself which I know could happen if I return before I'm healed.  I really hope it's not going to be 6 months!  Skating is wonderful.  I love it for so many reasons: exercise, challenging, social, and it's a big stress reliever for me.  When I'm out there, it's time that I don't have to think about all of my problems!     Thank you for your help!