What's the deal with the hamstring? Is it more toward the insertion or the muncle?
well there are 3 things going on, all on the left leg. i've never got any of this checked out by a doc btw. My best guess is that when my old hamstring tendon injury flared up, as I ran through it, that caused my left calf to become injured, which then caused my bicep femoris to injure. Basically a domino effect.
old hamstring tendon injury:
- sharp tear at the time of injury.. razor blade feeling for a few months (~2009). has never fully healed.
- something around the semitendinosus/semimembranosus insertion
new calf injury:
- no idea what's going on with this, seems to be in different spots.. all around the origin of the gastrocs
- tightens up, sharp muscle pain
- I feel like this was a bad muscle strain at the time
new bicep femoris injury:
- seems more muscular, right before the beginning of the insertion
- muscle has felt real painful but a dull hard pain
- also tendon ends up feeling very stiff
- first felt this after I walked 9 miles while my other two injuries were nagging. At mile 8 of that walk, I started feeling it in the exact spots that i'm currently feeling it.
the good news is, everything has been getting better, slowly.. I mean I couldn't run at all ~3 weeks ago. Left calf would tighten up incredible, shortly after running at even the slowest paces. Lately it seems like i'm just trying to fully recover it now, since i've run 9 and 11 miles. Though, i'm not applying as much power.. If I applied more power, I don't think i'd be able to run as far as I have recently. Bicep femoris & calf would tighten up. However, i'm gradually able to apply more power it seems.
I mean I should probably rest it completely. I'm trying to be smart about working through it though. I'll stop running at the first sign of real pain etc, not going to run through it. I'm also taking more days off soo..
If it's a muscle based thing/tightness would it be worth trying heat over ice?
I think there's several things going on. Old tendon tears, and new muscle tears + some tendonitis in my bicep femoris tendon.
I love ice for my knees, but I once iced a sore/right calf/peroneal and it made it significantly worse!
damn.
ice for me, with these issues, has definitely helped. I've always felt like someone who has a perhaps above normal inflammatory response. I def feel like my body produces alot of inflammation when small tweaks occur. These injuries are definitely bigger than small tweaks though. My main objective with ice is to potentially reduce inflammation in those areas, without NSAID's etc.
i've been using heat in the shower, on occasion.. direct application of the shower head on the back of my knee, and progressively making it hotter.. so i've been tackling it from a few angles.
pC!
