Hamstring Inflamed

[snowski/swimmouse]

Returning to skiing after last season's spiral femur fracture actually was helping my recovery greatly. But, three different times during the ten months of therapy, I aggravated my hamstring on the outside back of that leg. Mostly we skipped that exercise after the pain showed up and it was Ok in < a week. I first felt this 3+ years ago when a Baker's cyst behind the knee showed up after my meniscus tear. It's felt vulnerable ever since.

The hospital therapy folks at the Y gave me a two month membership (hoping you'll join) and they helped me plan a program for me to help strengthen the muscles around the knee. Mostly I did everything slowly and carefully and had not yet added any weights or time. But the of the third week, doing leg curls, I lost count and, as usual, started where I was last sure, so maybe I did an extra 10 reps at most.

The next day I drove to the mountains with plans on skiing 5 of the next six days. I skied one hour each for two days (since I'd paid for lessons), skipped two days to give it a rest and did one hour the last two days. The hamstring has been soooo unhappy ever since. Basically I can't do anything physical, even standing or walking farther than the kitchen except for the pool.

Everything I've been told or read says rest, rest, rest. It's not swollen and after a week of near zero activity and naproxen, it's OK as long as I don't try to do anything, which is totally bad for the rest of me!!!!!

My class is for six consecutive weeks and I paid the first day I skied on the above trip. Then I'm supposed to ski in VT for 3 solid weeks....

Any suggestions or thoughts, Divas?
one frustrated mouse

 

[Lmk92]

If my son's recovery after tearing his MCL and retinaculum (football injury) is any indication, ice, rest, ibuprofen (and lots of it), and immobilization are necessary for a quicker recovery. My daughter tore her MCL skiing exactly a year ago, and she's still not fully recovered. She didn't let it heal properly, then didn't do the exercises necessary to strengthen the area around her knee. She still can't even breast stroke. However, my son, whose goal was to play in a playoff game (he didn't make it, sadly), listened to the AT, and he's almost fully recovered. He's skiing now, although he does take it easy and rests when he needs to. His injury was September 25th.

 

[Jilly]

Are you stretching after exercise? I'm only 4 months post meniscus repair and we're not doing too much leg work yet with weights. Like you the muscles are not that good around the knee.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

@Jilly : Yes, the stretching before and after's all part of the plan...

@Lmk92 : Breastroke was the only issue in the pool; I immediately modified that kick so that it caused no pain. Up until going to the mountains earlier this month to ski, I've been soooo careful and followed all instructions to the letter.

 

[Lmk92]

Good luck, @snowski/swimmouse !

 

[Little Lightning]

I've dealt with chronic hip and low back pain for several years. I've been working with a PT who does a massage called cupping. It's wonderful. She uses warmed silicone cups and manages to place them right on the trigger points. Unlike deep tissue massage that left me sore for a day or two I have no soreness, only a little bruising. My PT always works my glutes as well as my hamstrings. She also gave me glute exercises that has helped to calm down my low back. I worked with a trainer this summer and discovered how weak my left glute and hamstring was. Every time I pushed the hamstring machine or did hamstrings on a fit ball I was in pain for a day or 2. After my trainer sessions ended I quit using the weight machines. Now I hold my bridges long enough for the left hamstring to complain, then quit. I'm amazed how far I've come with my hip in the last year and how my ski turns have improved just by gaining strength in the hip. Your strength will come back too. You've had a tough injury so be patient with yourself and give your body time to recover.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Thanks @Little Lightning

 

[num]

Sorry to hear it, Mouse. I don't have much in the way of advice, just lots in the way of sympathy.

Like LL, I love cupping. I wouldn't have thought of it for your situation, but it's great for my chronic back/shoulder muscular tension combined with tui na and acupuncture. Actually, while we're on the topic, have you considered acupuncture? Not a panacea, to be sure, but if you've been curious about it at all, it's worth looking into community acupuncture (lower cost without lowering quality).

Hopefully a combination of pt and resting (which sounds at odds, but I think you know what I mean) can get things straightened out asap.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I was lucky enough to twice get an intro rate for acupuncture, where the second round included cupping. The acupuncture seemed to help in the beginning, but less so as time went on and, after the second round of 6 visits, when I'd have to go to full price, I learned that my insurance wouldn't cover it. I liked the guy and he seemed highly trained here and abroad, but I didn't seem to be worth it for me. Thanks for the suggestion and even more so the sympathy (especially as I hear from my classmates how great the snow was in NC today- waahh).

 

[Gloria]

Just curious, is the inflammation down near knee/tendon and was it the hamstring curl machine. If so was it seated, standing or lying with or without the bend in the bench at the hip?

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

It's up the outside back of the leg, not really near the knee. The machine seated, bend at the hip.
It's a little better, but still not able to do much. With 8-19" of new snow on our North Carolina mountains, I'm a very frustrated skimouse!

 

[Gloria]

Interesting, I have had a swarm of knee replacement clients lately and the lying leg curl machine has aggravated pretty much all of them as well. I don't know exactly why I have replaced the machine with other exercises and not one PT has come back and said no, wrong, or that's unusual. It's something I have been struggling with in a different way - you might simply go back to the hospital team and see if they can offer any other exercises that might work better for you. If I learn anything more I will let you know.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

That's exactly what I'm doing; I'm waiting on the new scrip now!

 

[Jilly]

Can't say as I've used the leg curl machine. We've been doing wall squats with the exercise ball. And step up's. The box just got higher yesterday.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Them leg curl machine was just one of eight things I was doing and it seemed to be one of the safest, but I'll not chance doing it again!

 

[Gloria]

Them leg curl machine was just one of eight things I was doing and it seemed to be one of the safest, but I'll not chance doing it again!

If it's one of 8 things, might not be the culprit. One thing I was thinking and almost came back on a posted was, I never had anyone develop inflamation - just wrong type of pain on executing the exercise, and it can be difficult to control the movement on the machine without bouncing or heaving the weight for some people which also affected my decision making as well . Inflamation to me suggests something like a strain - I started thinking later that you may have an injury more than an exercise induced aggravation if that makes sense.

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

I took my list back to the therapist without telling her which one I suspected and she said none of the other things I was doing would have affected the hamstring. I don't really think it's an injury because I was doing all of them so slowly and carefully. This is the fourth time over the past six months that I've aggravated it. We identify the culprit and leave it out forevermore. Then the therapist would do serious massage and I'd be good to go in 2-7 days. But I didn't have any more therapy sessions left. I got a new Rx for it today, but it's ten days before they can fit me in again! And it's already been 3 weeks.....waaahhhh

 

[judysj]

Oh boy, I love Ski Divas! Thanks for always letting me know I'm not the only one with these problems. I'm nearly 4 weeks post-ACL construction and when I was at PT two days ago, doing hammy curls on the seated machine, I felt my hamstring "snap" (like snapping fingers). Yesterday, it continued to snap after every dozen or so steps. Pain right behind the knee and up the hammy. I'd been making such amazing progress since surgery and now I'm all weepy about this setback. Icing, elevating, etc. Any other recommendations would be very welcome!

 

[snowski/swimmouse]

Nasty machine!

After the initial inflamation subsided a little, my physical therapist did magical things using her hands to do deep tissue massage to begin with and later added untrasound machine to go deeper still. It felt a bit tender to begin with, but it was worth it!