#hamstring pull

My hammy, heat or ice?

I’ve been noticing a tightness in my left hamstring, sort of a persistant twinge. It’s noticable as a weakness when I’m walking and I come to a curb. I’ll leap from my right leg and land on the curb with my left leg, but because the leg is bent at the knee when I strike the cement, there’s this quick pain and a weakness in my hamstring that almost feels like I’ll collapse. I don’t, but that’s the…

Yep, I injured my hamstring a little on Friday.One of my goals while training is to avoid a running injury. I am allergic to pain. Pain makes me irritable and occasionally makes my eyes water. Honestly, I have a high pain tolerance unless it is my back or…

I pulled my hamstring the other day.  I started out on a run and was feeling a little stiff.  Less than a mile into the run, I pulled my left hamstring.  I had to stop twice to stretch it out.  It was bad enough that I considered walking back to my house. 

After deciding it wasn't that bad, I continued to run carefully for a total of about 3 miles.  I was still able to maintain a 7:30 pace.  Once I got home, I started using my foam roll to work on left hamstring.  I started slowly, putting a small amount of my body weight on the foam roll. 

It hurt as I rolled back and forth over the injured area.  After a few passes, it started to feel better and I increased the amount of weight I was applying and repeated the process until I had all of my weight pressing down on my hamstring and the foam roll. 

I finished with a few stretches and also used my Tiger Tail massage stick on the injured area.  I repeated the entire process once more before bed.  I continued to use the foam roll the next day and took a day off from running to let the injury heal. Now I'm feeling fine and I'm back to running. 

Obviously, you shouldn't try this if you have a severe muscle strain.  If you get on the foam roll and feel acute pain, or if you notice swelling or bruising around the injury, you should see a doctor or a sports medicine specialist. You may have a muscle tear.

Have you been injured lately?  What have you done for it?  Tell me in the comments.

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