You’ve Pulled Your Hamstring - Now What?
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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