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Tight hamstrings causing lots of problem
Hi,
To make a long story short, I'm 20 years old (150 Lbs, 6'), been
running and doing aerobic exercises for about a year. Prior to that, I
did 2 years of only weight lifting. Now, I mix both with an emphasis
on running, cycling and swimming.
As long as I can remember, I had tight or short hamstrings. When I was
a kid and we had to touch our feet in the gym class, I was the only
one not even close to them.
Later, doing flexibility tests in high school, we had to sit legs
strait in front of us trying to push a button on a device at the end
of our feet. I was the only one who wasn't even close to touching this
button. My teacher told me I was inflexible in my hip.
At this time, I didn't worry about that problem. Other point to
notice, when I did weight training for my hamstrings, they where tight
as hell the next few days, so I trained them rarely and concentrated
on my quads.
Now, I started running almost a year ago and I felt in love with the
sport, but ever since I run, my hamstrings are getting tighter and
tighter. I tried lots of different types of stretching but none seem
to help me. My hamstrings seem to get tighter when I do some bicycle
also. They are so tight that if I drive in my car for more than 30-40
minutes, my leg on the pedal get all numb, like when you sit on your
leg for a while.
At first I didn't really bother with the tightness since about two
months ago. I hurt my right knee in what seems to be an ITBS (pain on
the side of the knee). At first I thought maybe me ITB is as tight
than my hamstrings and that's why I hurt my knee. Now, the advice for
this injury is to stop for a while and then do some swimming to let
the injury heal itself.
At first, I didn't make the link between my tight hamstrings and the
knee injury but time as passed and my knee starts to hurt again when I
do some intense swimming for more than 30 minutes. It looks like it
doesn't want to heal.
However, doing stationary bicycle seem to cause me no problem with the
knee. I'm now thinking that the ITBS and tight hamstrings are related
and that loosening those muscles could fix the knee problem.
I took an appointment at a local massotherapist (well I'm not sure for
the English word, but it's a physiotherapist that specialize in
massages) that I heard of but also went to see my family doctor. The
massotherapist is supposed to be specialized in sports related
injuries. My family doctor told me to see this therapist but also to
take an appointment with a sports doctor. Se gave my a reference for
the doctor and I took an appointment with him on January 22th.
I also went to see the therapist who would directly said that chances
are that this all comes from deficiencies in my nutrition. He told me
to get sure to get plenty of proteins, vitamins (make sure they are
loaded with full of magnesium), omega-3 and glutamine. He told me that
I have to make sure that it doesn't come from my nutrition to
eliminate this possibility, and that the only way to do so for me is
to eat plenty of all those nutriments for a while to see if it makes a
difference of not.
He also stretched my hamstrings and noticed how tight they are. My
body was flat on his massage bed and he lifted my leg straight up to
stretch it. At a point, I felt an intense burn near the cord in the
back of my knee. He did the same to the other leg and the burn was
there too. He told me this cord is where the muscle attach to the
bone. He tried to stretch my right leg again later in the session, but
the burn feeling came back and I felt excruciating pain.
After the session, in a foolish despair attempt to correct the
situation, I went and bought for 200$ of supplements (vitamines, whey
proteins, omega-3, glutamine). I thought maybe he was right and food
could fix that all. It's now been a week and I feel no difference
whatsoever. In fact, since the session with the therapist, the burn in
the end of the muscle comes back when I stretch my hamstrings (even
when it just put my right leg straight too suddenly). I wonder if the
stretch he did to me pulled something. Also good to note, when I feel
the burn pain, if I touch in the area of the pain, it hurts even more.
Now, I'm waiting for my appointment to the sports doctor eagerly and
the problem is a little depressing because the sports I can do are
getting more and more limited. It depresses me to be forced to be
inactive.
A friend of mine helped me stretch in a way that he pushes to stretch
the muscle and after that I push in the other side and then start
again. I gained extra flexibility after that, but it only lasted the
day he did it to me.
At Christmas, a physiotherapist who is in the family told me to see a
doctor and that the massotherapist might not be a good person for my
problem. She also told me that problems often come from other places
in the body and a few specialists tend to look at that. She told me
something I did when I was young could have led to the tight hamstring
problem. Something wrong in my back and whose nerves are connected or
something.
I think sge might be right with this theory, so here is a short list
of other problems that could be related:
- Lots of migraines when I was young (now, I don't get them)
- Mild scoliosis when I was younger seems to be fine now, maybe I
compensated in some way (I had a shoulder visibly lower than the other
one)
- Had bad posture for a long time, now it seems OK
- Still today, my head seem to be in front of my body because my neck
is directed towards the front.
- Always had stability problems. For example, I'm not very good at
standing on one foot and being stable.
- Feet too flat so I wear orthopedics in my shoes since I can
remember.
- Bought a bicycle before this summer and went to work with it a
couple of times (1h20 bike ride). However, after about an hour of
riding, I felt like electric shocks in my right trapezius. It was
getting worse as I continued riding and when I stopped, my trapezius
would give me weird electric shocks feelings for a while after that (a
couple of days). It was even getting dangerous because after a while I
wasn't able to turn my head to the right to look for cars or
something. One time, after a ride, my right hand was numb also and it
was like that for like 2 days. This numb hand was really weird. I read
that the muscle problem could be from my position on the bike and to
much pressure on my arms. I tried staying my arms and shoulders
relaxed while riding, but it didn't make a difference. I sold my
bicycle mainly because the problem was so disturbing that I just gave
up and said to me that I would concentrate on my running (not knowing
that I would hurt me knee a couple of month after that).
I know this is quite a long post, but I'm a bit discouraged about this
problem and my January 22nd appointment seems far away. I'm also
scared to get a doctor who doesn't have a clue of what my problem is
and treats me the wrong way.
I train in the gym of the University of Ottawa (but study elsewhere)
and noticed they ofter sports medicine to the general public. They
have physicians and physiotherapists who are supposed to be
specialized in sports. I now wonder if I should take an appointment
there too the get a second opinion and I might be lucky and get
something soon.
While I'm waiting, I'll try to continue doing some bicycle and rope
skipping.
So do any of you have any tips or have any idea what could be the
cause and treatment of my problem?
Thanks a whole lot in advance!
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