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[buriedatsea]

Hi, long time lurker here really looking for advice on a hamstring problem.

I damaged my hamstring playing indoor football at the end of September. The pain is very sharp and starts right at the top of my leg/glute and shoots down my leg to just above the knee. I visited a physio who advised light stretching, walking etc but the problem seems to keep coming back. I've also visited a doctor who recommended getting sports massages, of which I had 3 (they hurt!) and didn't seem to help much. I work from home at a computer for a lot of hours each day, and I found sitting on a tennis ball to massage the hamstring helped. But despite all this, any time I jog or make an unusual movement the pain returns.

I'm 23 and this is my first major injury and it's really depressing to last so long. It's 7 weeks today until the first game of the season and I don't feel like I'm going to be fit to play. I'm supposed to be midweek captain and I really don't want to let the club down because of this injury.

Help! Thanks

[Number4]

You really need to do a lot of stretching to break down the scar tissue from the tear. A good stretch for this type of injury is to lay on the ground and bring your knee into your chest, put your hand behind your knee and hold it to your chest and slowly straighten your leg. This is really good for stretching that hard to get area right up near your glute.

[Byo]

Also get your back looked at - I have had back issues in the past and as a result kept doing my hamstring!! Got some stretching exercises from the physio and its been much better.

[mad_abt_cricket]

I had a similar problem and I increased my water intake significantly, specially during play. It really helped.

[buriedatsea]

Thanks for the advice so far guys.

Number4 - tbh I have got a bit slack with stretching, so I'll try and get into the routine of regular stretching. Just after weeks of stretching no sort of improvement happened and I still got the pain.

Byo - I actually got told by the physio this could be the problem so have tried to improve my posture, and also bought the Herman Miller Aeron Chair which supports the back (I'd highly recommend this for anyone who sits behind a desk all day and has back problems)

mad_abt - I will start drinking more water!

Any more advice?

Ta

[kaustav]

Hmm....get out of the water---swim to the shore and do all your stretching there.