Posted In: Video Review
6th hammy tear in 18 months a couple of weeks ago, i think there may e a biomechanics problem, i will psot videos i have uploaded to facebook (they are public so if you have fb should be able to watch) also a couple from websites. I’m in the yellow vest
https://www.athleticos.org/coverage/247911-2012-Birmingham-Games/video/596893-Senior-Men-200m-Heat-8
I’ve noticed your not really getting your knees up. While that is good(Low heel recovery) in the first part of the race, towards the end of the race it could be hurting you.
Haven’t looked at video yet but remember that every time you tear hamstring you are more likely to tear it again so once you’ve done it a few times you are going to be a lot more likely to do so, so you have to be careful. Hope you heal fast.
Hey Irish,
I am also suffering from what seems to be chronic hammy injuries. I have had 3 pulls in the last year. Always seems to be happening in the middle of speed endurance workouts, temp.between 0 and 7 degrees. I have come off of the bend twice and tried to give it a little extra and bam! It seems, and I have heard, that it happens once and it can tend to re-injure more easily. I read the following article and am starting it this week. Most recent pull was 7 days ago, I have been swimming, riding the bike, and started water running, so far so good.
https://www.scienceofsocceronline.com/2011/08/preventing-hamstring-injuries-with.html
Cheers and good luck.
sounds obvious and you might already do it but are you stretching? i’ve been static stretching each major muscle group (30 seconds ish) every night for last 2 years and (touch wood) havn’t had a single muscle tear since. flexibility has improved big time as well
As Eric alluded to, once you get a tear, you are more likely to get another. This is due to the scar tissue forming, which doesn’t have the same contractile properties of normal muscle fibre. The research on static stretching seems to show that it has little effect on dynamic flexibility. Ive also seen a paper on hamstring injuries and static stretching, which said that static stretching did not prevent hamstring injuries. Having said that, I do think there is value in stretching your hamstrings (and all major muscle groups) as Matt states.
A lot of hamstring issues can come from the lumbar spine (which can be too stiff, or too mobile) or from the pelvis (which can be rotated forward or clockwise/anticlockwise). You might also have a leg length difference, which could be causing these issues. Im sure you have been getting physio to work on these injuries – what do they have to say?
I know you do a lot of specific hamstring strengthening exercises, which should protect you too. Do you know which hamstring muscle you injure (i.e semi-mem, semi-ten, or bicep fem) and where abouts in the hamstring it happens (top, middle, bottom)? Do most of your tears happen at maxV, or acceleration? Or round the bend?
Its possible your motor firing patterns are off? Do you do glut strengthening exercises too? How about rotational torque control through the torso (basically side planks, wood chops etc.)?
Thats basically a decent overview of rehab protocols and injury mechanisms – its all I can think of off the top of my head. The next step would be to look in detail at recovery, sleep, fatigue, nutrition, all other factors that could be causing this.
Im pretty interested in this topic, so I have done some research:
Hamstring Rehab + Injury Prevention Paper
Management of Hamstring Injuries
Effect Of Warm-up And Stretching On Previously Injured Hamstrings <— this one shows that I have no idea what I am talking about, as it states static stretching was helpful in improving hamstring flexibility
Risk Factors Associated With Hamstring Re-Injury <– mentions stuff in my post above, such as fatigue, lumbar spine issues. Another factor to consider are sciatic nerve issues – do you do slump tests etc.?
Thats probably enough reading for now, hope its helpful!
Hi,
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned your actual traiing plan as of yet…It seems to me like you have a lot of intensive tempo days rather than extensive tempo days–an issue that I think has been brought up on your thread…
Personally, I haven’t found intensive tempo to be very useful as a form of recovery or speed development (didn’t Charlie Francis say something like “cut out everything between 75-95 percent”??)…I don’t know if it will resolve your hammy issues but doing extensive tempo rather than intensive will certainly put less pressure on your body over the short and long run by giving your body real recovery–i think you’ll end up feeling a lot sharper on your hard days too…
I would only use intensive tempo if I wanted to run fast but for whatever reason wasn’t ready to go all out–rather than something I would do in conjunction with max speed training…It seems that some coaches are moving towards this idea as well…
Anyways,
good luck with your training (and thanks for posting your log!)—hopefully you’ll be at full fitness in no time!
My lecturer was talking about hamstring injuries in our seminar today, from a biomechanics stand point there is a lot of debate at the moment as to what exactly causes hamstring injuries. I’d try and get down to the biomechanics lab mate, I know LJMU have got a pretty decent department. If money is an issue I’m sure they would have a post grad who would love to work with a 10.7 guy.
thanks for all the replies
basically i stretch my hamstrings a lot, both statically, dynamically and neurally, i also do a lot of concentric and eccentric strength training, my physio said the hamstring muscles themselves were strong. he pointed out poor pelvic stability and weak glutes as a reason why my i was getting hamstring injuries. i had started doing them but i probably race too soon before the adaptations to the exercises could take place
craig; i have tore it at accel 3 times (right semimem, right bicep, right bicep) and max v once (left semitend at both insertion and main belly) and then had very minor tears or pulls at the left one at max v in training training twice
uni have agreed to do a biomechanical analysis worth over £1500 for free! going to include;
Clinical assessment of structure
Isokinetic assessment of quadriceps vs hamstrings muscle strength
3D motion analysis & analysis of muscle activity during sprinting with some low level fatigue protocol too.
provisional date for these tests is 28th march, just hope i’m not injured then