pulled HAMSTRING: any advice??

[morbicid]

have any of you experience a pulled hamstring before? I was doing a simple front kick last weekend and i felt a painful pull in my hamstring muscle. it's been three days now and i'm still having trouble even walking fast. it tightens up and hurts any time I extend my leg too fast.

how long do these take to heal?

looks like i'll only be practicing hand techniques for a while

[Ford Prefect]

Rest, very light stretching, warmth, and massage is about all you can do. They can take quite some time to heal completely.

[wall]

Listen to Ford, good advice.

Frankly even just stretching, let alone kicks etc, can furter injury it and keep it inflamed which leads to a recurring hamstring pull = months of stunted training (been there done that...twice).

Only solution, as annoying as it is, is complete rest (that includes no stretching too, other than REALLY light) for 2 - 4 weeks (depending how serious the pull is and how young you are). Then slowly get back into training and in a few weeks you should be back to normal. All up about 6 weeks, but better than 6 months + of recurring injury, believe me :)

[norther practitioner]

yeah, I'm still recovering from my last hammy pull... It has been a month and a half. Still can't kick my left leg above my chest.

[IronFist]

Do you know why it happened? Did you not warm up or something? Did you slip?

[morbicid]

i had been overtraining i think.

i already trained for a few hours on the bag the day before, which leaves your legs tight sometimes, then i went to a class the very next day. we were doing a pretty low intensity kicking drill and i just did a simple low front kick and felt something pull with a sharp pain. i tried to throw another kick but it was too painful. it feels a little better now but i tried to throw a slow kick with it yesterday and it was just too painful. at least i'm walking easier now :) thanks for the advice guys

are there any supplements that can speed up recovery ????

[IronFist]

Pro football players have something that lets them recover from pulled hamstrings in a few weeks. It's probably just some pain killer that let's them play through the pain. I forgot what it's called, tho.

[Toby]

Morphine? Codeine?

:D

[IronFist]

Something like that. I'm thinking Nubain but that's not it. If you said it I would know it.

[wall]

If you take stuff to mask the pain you won't know if it's actually healed or not, running the risk of getting back to full intensity too soon and making it a recurring and worsening injury. I'd stay away from anti inflammatories and pain supressants and just do the few weeks of healing and then few weeks of return to full intensity ... might take a little longer but at least it will be 100% and should not happen again (just make sure you warm up and don't over train).

[Toby]

Originally posted by IronFist
Something like that. I'm thinking Nubain but that's not it. If you said it I would know it. I was being facetious. But did you mean Nurofen or Nurofen Plus? One with ibuprofen and one with ibuprofen + codeine IIRC. Like wall, I condone recovery over masking although I've been known to take ibuprofen occasionally.

[morbicid]

since it is a muscle that needs to be "repaired", would eating extra protein / amino acids help the process ?

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Toby
I was being facetious. But did you mean Nurofen or Nurofen Plus? One with ibuprofen and one with ibuprofen + codeine IIRC. Like wall, I condone recovery over masking although I've been known to take ibuprofen occasionally.

It's not those, but it's something like that. I don't think it starts with an "N."

[rubthebuddha]

since it is a muscle that needs to be "repaired", would eating extra protein / amino acids help the process ? if you're already eating a healthy amount of protein to begin with, no. proper protein intake takes into consideration everything in your body that requires protein -- cell reconstruction, hair growth, nail growth, muscle repair/hypertrophy, etc. if you aren't getting enough protein, all of these will suffer. if you are, then day-to-day things like soreness, injuries, cutting yourself while shaving, workouts, and nookie will all take from that stash of protein you're giving.

the most important thing regarding protein is that you get enough of it in moderate, regular doses. eating salad or fruit or sweets all day, then having an 80g protein shake before going to bed will just mean that you'll be in deficit for most of the day and have to **** out 50g of unabsorbed the next morning. you can only digest so much at a time, but you need it throughout the day, so do small meals, each with 20-30g of protein, then maybe a shake or three throughout the day.

as much as i like to rag on bill phillips (and i know he didn't invent it), he mass-marketed a really good idea:

decent meal
shake
decent meal
shake
decent meal
maybe another shake

if 30g of protein per dose,, that's 150-180g of protein per day in manageable chunks, versus nothing all day then loafing an unmanageable chunk in the morning.

[morbicid]

thanx. i might just use that meal/ shake/ meal/ shake schedule ... been having trouble building muscle lately anyways

thanks for the tips guys