8
Mar

Hamstring Insertion

Well as I said last week, I’m taking it easy this Recovery Week so as I can recover much better, and fully.

I’m having this sort of injury, I wouldn’t say injury as it’s not chronic yet, nor affecting much of my training, but the ache and strain located at my hamstring insertion is getting bothersome.

It’s especially present when I’m doing my sprints, so with that it’s essential I really tackle this ‘injury’ fast, so as I can train to my optimum level.

I’ve had this sort of injury before, few years back when I was training with my varsity team.

I recall it got worse as my training load gets harder.

And I only got better when I stopped my training.

So with that the Hamstring Insertion injury is related to my workouts, that I am sure of.

This is what I’ve been doing so far:

Rest/Sleep – Recovery
Light deep tissue massage – Seems to alleviate the strain
Improve my sitting posture – My work requires me to sit long hours, and at certain angles my leg is positioned, it will tighten the area for which the injury lies.
Stretches – I find that doing PNF stretches does relieve the ache.

What I’ve found on the web regarding this injury

Tissue damage and inflammation to one or more of the hamstring tendons.
Pain occurs at their attachment to the top of the lower leg causing pain in the back of the knee.
During contraction (running, jumping and kicking) of the hamstrings, tension is placed through the hamstring tendons. When this tension is excessive due to too much repetition or high force, damage to the hamstring tendons may occur.
Injuries particularly common in sports requiring frequent acceleration and deceleration.
Most patients with this condition heal well with appropriate physiotherapy and return to normal function in a number of weeks.
One of the key components of treatment is that the patient rests from ANY activity that increases their pain until they are symptom free.
Ignoring symptoms or adopting a ‘no pain, no gain’ attitude is likely to lead to the condition becoming chronic.
Patients with this condition should undergo a graduated flexibility and strengthening program of the hamstrings to ensure an optimal outcome.
In the final stages of rehabilitation, a graduated return to running program is required to recondition the hamstring muscle for running in a safe and effective manner.
This should include the implementation of progressive acceleration and deceleration running drills

From a coach POV:

Possibly it is tendinitis caused by a recent sudden and sustained “lengthening” of the hamstring muscles due to a change in mechanics – you moving closer to “triple extension” (of hip, knee, ankle joints in the vertical plane) and thereby running “taller” in your training/racing.
The other thing which could be causing your tendinitis on the outter side of your knees is, that you have extremely tight ilio-tibial bands (ITBs). Get a good therapist to smash those with massage from hip to knee.
You would be best advised then to not run for a few days.
Physiotherapist taped kneecaps in such a way as to drag them across toward the inner thigh. That brought instant relief. But racing, much less training, with kneecaps taped is a very short-term remedy.
So the long term remedy appears to be massage (probably in combination with accupuncture, ideally) and some rest until the inflammation settles completely.