I pulled/tore mine last Friday. My primary doc wasn't in so I saw his nurse practitioner. She had x-rays taken, no problems she gave me a couple of weeks worth of muscle relaxers and pain pills. The first day or two I was pretty much bed ridden. Couldn't move it much without jumping out of my shorts. The next day or two I could move around with the help of a cane. Still couldn't sit at the diner table or computer table. Had major pain doing things like getting in and out of the car or taking the little 4" step out of the front or back door. It seems to be gradually getting better. I am at least able to sit at the computer desk or dining room table without too much pain, just a little soreness. I am no longer using my wife's walker or a cane. Not sure whether that was a good choice though I almost went down in the 7-11 store last night. Anyway I think I am ready to start doing some stretching exercises. It is obviously not a major tear or I don't think I would be coming around this soon. I ice it a couple hours a day and have about a weeks left of muscle relaxers, I'm sure I can get more if needed. So my questions are for someone who has had a pulled hamstring, 1. how long a healing precess am I looking at before I can go back to normal activities without much worry. 2. What type of stretching should I be doing. 3. I have been sitting on a stack of pillows when I do sit at the table but my butt still gets sore if I sit too long. I have seen some pillows made for this situation. Can anybody suggest a brand or style?
Mine took a long time to heal. I was a dumbass and didn’t listen to doctor. I would do what stretching they tell me to, when they tell me. You don’t want to aggravate it. Good luck
Takes quite awhile to get back to normal, but a lot of that depends on how old you are and what normal is. Don't rush it, no matter what.
Keep up with the rehab and wait a few weeks after it feels fine to do anything that might aggravate it. And then just ease into things A little extra time now could save you a nagging injury going forward. Good Luck!
If memory serves I waited about six weeks to get pain free and start stretching again. I’m almost sixty now and don’t have any lingering effects from it, I can still deliver a face height roundhouse kick with no discomfort.
Age isn't on my side I'm 73. I'm sure age had a lot to do with the tear. I didn't fall that hard thank God I had my cell phone in my pocket. I had to make one of those "Help I've fallen and I can't get up" calls. I knew I had torn it right away because my left leg was pretty much frozen until the doc gave me muscle relaxers.
I had issues with tight and chronically painful hamstrings until I stopped stretching them. The stretching was the problem.
Then I suggest ice and time. I don't know if you can mix them, but cayenne pepper capsules are an excellent natural muscle relaxer as are cherries. Be careful not to take too many because they can irritate your urinary tract. I also take cranberry capsules to offset the possible urinary issues. I generally take two capsules at lunch. Helps very much with chronic muscle issues. Only on rare occasions do I need to take some ibuprofen.
Stop icing. It slows down the healing process. Apply heat to draw fresh blood into the area. Move as much as you can pain free or what you can tolerate. This activates your lymph system to drain away metabolic waste. If you have access to a tens unit. Use it. It will create muscle contractions as well as disrupt your pain sensors.
Ice should no longer be applied to injuries, and here’s why | Rehab Hub. 96 covered it. The general rule was ice for the first two to three days then heat however even that isn't recommended as it slows inflammation which IS part of the healing process. By that same token you don't apply heat during the acute phase because you will promote too much swelling which can cause other problems. Regardless, ice is basically not recommended after 3 days. That's a different situation than ice water baths after training that many are doing now. In my 40s now so personally I'm surprised to hear how long the recovery phase has been for those who have commented but the older I get the longer things take so I get it. In my 20s a hamstring groin or quad pull would take a week to "feel ok" but any exercise or plyometrics would not be possible. By 2 weeks I could do some but wouldn't go full speed. 3 weeks with proper hydration, stretching rest and limited strengthening I was good. That was in my 20s so I can see where 70s would take twice as long.
What type of tear? I'd consider seeing an ortho. If it's a type 2 or 3 and you don't get some guidance from an expert, it could go really bad for you.
If you are not moving very much. Spend 5-10 minutes, several times a day taking full, deep breaths through your nose. Do not mouth breath. This will increase your bodies nitric oxide production. It will initiate vasodilation ( open up your arteries) to get better blood flow.
I tore my left hamstring in college, worst pain ever. For the first week you can’t even sleep, any movement laying down will cause pain. Took 8-10 weeks to heal. Use heat and don’t do any stretching while it’s healing, just basic walking will be enough. Once healed work on strengthening. Any planned activity warm up properly . Unfortunately it will always be prone to re injury, at least mine has. Good luck.
I already miss my 30s. My decline has been substantial compounded by a blown ACL, MCL and meniscus injury along with hypermobility issues. The way I explain it to young guys I work with is this. I don't feel old. I'm still active. But a day comes where you ask yourself when was the last time you woke up with no pain? I cant really answer that. A nagging ankle. Muscle strain. Shoulder impingement. Headache from neck issue. None are necessarily debilitating but it's a death from a thousand cuts so to speak.
They are out there. Has to do with prostaglandin inhibition and yadda yadda yadda. The wife has a doctorate in physical therapy and stays up to date on recommendations and changes to protocols via peer reviewed studies. People are generally resistant to change. CPR protocol, bleeding control and shock treatment has changed multiple times in my relatively short (14 year) career as a ff/paramedic. We don't use trendelenburg position for low blood pressure, we now use tourniquets which were once taboo and there are too many changes to cpr protocol to mention. We can ask why should we trust the entities who got it wrong before or we can trust they are actively reviewing these methods and adjust them based on empirical findings. Just the way I have to think about it as someone who is dependent on them.
Age and current fitness level certainly are factors. When I was younger I could recover from a pulled hamstring and be functional in sports in about 2 weeks. I would say it took a month to be 100%. In my 40s I think I have come to the conclusion that it takes 20 years to recover from a pulled hamstring.
