Pulled 52-year-old hamstring 6 weeks ago

[Turnandburn]

I'm 52 and in good shape without ever having pulled a muscle. About 6 months ago a driver new to my PS197 floored the throttle and I pulled my hamstring. Man that hurt, especially trying to remove my ski.I completely laid off it for 2 weeks and it has slowly healed. I cannot yet run but have resumed working out at my Crossfit gym and have been getting up on 2 skis and dropping one to avoid re-injury. I live and ski in Iowa so my skiing is over until May of next year so I should be back into shape by then but I guarantee you I'm psychologically impaired because I'm going to think about that hamstring every time I get up now. Have others experienced this injury and what can I expect?

[bturner2]

Oh yeah. Two years ago (I was 53) in late August I got caught up in some weeds during a deep water start, started to go sideways and tried to pull my way through it. Felt my hamstring roll up from the back of my knee to my butt cheek. I was locked into my dual Connelly fastbacks and it took me close to 15 minutes to get out of them. Was then barely able to get back in the boat and to the dock. The next day the back of my leg was purple, black and blue. I could barely walk for close to a month.

I worked out all winter and was able to start running about December. Two years later and it still wants to knot up. I now do a lot of stretching before running and skiing and haven't (sound of knocking on wood) had any issues last year or this year. The key is to take it slow, build into your workout and stretch before doing any physical activity that may stress your leg.

[silverblueBP]

Didn't pull a hamstring, but did crack 3 ribs doing almost the same thing. That was 2 years ago and never give it a thought when on the water.

[sp00ky]

I'm 52 and in good shape without ever having pulled a muscle. About 6 months ago a driver new to my PS197 floored the throttle and I pulled my hamstring. Man that hurt, especially trying to remove my ski.I completely laid off it for 2 weeks and it has slowly healed. I cannot yet run but have resumed working out at my Crossfit gym and have been getting up on 2 skis and dropping one to avoid re-injury. I live and ski in Iowa so my skiing is over until May of next year so I should be back into shape by then but I guarantee you I'm psychologically impaired because I'm going to think about that hamstring every time I get up now. Have others experienced this injury and what can I expect?

buddy of mine hurt my back getting me up too quick in cold March water. My ego back then made me hold on now if I don't like how I'm pulled up I just let go. It ain't worth it.

My injury was to the lower side of my back which was a muscle pull. And I am sorry to say it was never the same again. I understand its because of scar tissue from the injury.

If you can it maybe worth it to look into arthroscopically cleaning it up which I think they can do with lasers. BUT i'm no doctor but I do know my back/side acts up every now and the orginal injury was in 99.

[davidstan]

I pulled mine 2 yrs ago at 53 due to bad tecnique getting up and could not run for 4 weeks but was skiing in 5 weeks with 2 dropping one. If yours was just a pull with some bruising in back of leg you prolly be ok with winter rest next year. Was just glad mine was a bad pull instead of rupture. A rupture will stay with you a very long time needing a yr of therapy or more. In working out it is important to work quads and hammy muscles evenly so the upper leg is ot out of balance. Too strong a quad can cause a ham pull under stress. Good luck.

[Lars]

My dad did the exact same thing last summer. Tore 90% of the muscle. He had surgery to repair it from a local pro sports surgeon. He went skiing a few times this summer, but is now paranoid about getting up on one (he got up on one and dropped). one thing you can get is a knee brace that prevents your knee from going completely straight. That should keep you from over extending and subsequently pulling your hamstring.

[mgorczak1]

strengthen core---quads and sretch stretch srtrech,....bicycling is a great way to build quads and yes pilates great for core...old fasion pull/chin ups great for bi's tri's and traps.....