Pain in both hamstrings when I sprint?

[john1980]

Hi,

In recent months I have started sprint training with an athletics club with aim to compete next season. I have always lived an active life and regularly go to the gym and play rugby. Around 7 weeks ago I had a small pain develop in my right hamstring after having done a thorough warm up whilst running through an agility ladder where I really concentrated on bringing my legs up and pushing off the balls of my feet. I thought nothing of the pain as I had worse pains previously and been able to run them off. We then moved into the main session which was 200m sprints. I got around 20 meters into the sprint when got a tight cramping and burning pain in my hamstrings morse so in the right where I had noticed the small pain earlier, I could feel it on the upper section of the hamstring close to the outside leg. I treated it as a tear and took 6 weeks off and applied heat few days after and was able to get ultrasound treatment which helped to loosen the hamstring in combination with some short runs which I built in around 3 weeks after initial pain. I made a return to athletics last week and I got pain in both hamstrings again in the same sorta place, but as soon as I stopped running the pain stopped completely. I went again and the pain came back and like before as soon as I stopped and walked couple of metres the pain had gone again. Any ideas this has been a real set back for me as I have missed the majority of preseason for rugby.

Cheers,

John.

[Heidi]

Hi
Have you considered that it may not be an actual hamstring injury and that the pain may be being referred from the buttocks, hips or lower back?
The reason I say that is because if the pain is only when you run and goes almost immediately afterwards, then this is unlikely a muscle tear. Is there a tender area to touch in the hamstring muscles?
Also the fact that it is both hamstrings. It would be very rare to tear both in one go! Was there any bruising or swelling at all?
I would personally get a lumbar spine and pelvic assessment, including posture and ideally a gait analysis whilst walking and running. This would highlight any biomechanical or muscle imbalance issues.