Hi,

25 year old male here. I have a problem with my leg and have had 3 different opinions from 3 different Physiotherapists with 3 conflicting approaches to treatment, these opinions are from Private physiotherapists charging £40 per weekly session over a period of about 3 months, issue however has been present for 6 months now.

Problem began as a pain in the upper thigh/buttock area making it very painful to get in and out of the car, sitting down and standing up was and still is painful however the pain almost completely subsides after a period of time walking. Painful when bending over to pick things up. Despite the pain I continue to play football(soccer) with vigorous sprinting for 6 weeks as the pain subsides when I play football/doesn't seem to bother me much when playing (initial suspicions was sciatic nerve pain and so did not believe continued exercise would cause damage). Made an appointment with my first Physiotherapist and was not told what the problem actually was but was given advice that my hamstrings were quite tight and I should stretch to a point where it is very painful and that I cant overstretch and that without pain there's no gain in my situation. Eventually moved on to another Physio who has advised that the problem is tendinosis, which fits all of the symptoms in my opinion, and that I should gently stretch so as to loosen the muscle up to relieve the tension on the hamstring to allow better healing, also advised that I rest and avoid using my hamstrings excessively and so I have stopped playing football for about a month, stretching and icing the muscle and it appeared that the pain was getting better but very gradually over about 3-4 weeks, as it was feeling better(however not pain free, still have pain when standing/sitting/bending but just not as bad) I decided to play football at about 60-70% of my usual intensity for 1hr on the 3rd of June, no pain during play and no pain afterwards, I stretched the leg out quite a bit after and feel completely free. Anyway now it seems the pain is worse, it seems like the football may have hindered this progress quite a bit as it feels quite a bit worse, mentioned this to my Physio and she recommended I see her boss for a second opinion. Anyway, now he thinks it is tendinitis and has also noted that I have very flexible hips and I would have difficulty stretching the hamstring like normal people and that I should do this pressure point therapy where I sit on a tennis ball and work the muscle so as to work the muscle laterally in order to create parallel movement of the tendon thus stretching the tendon out. He seemed very confident that my issue was 'nothing major/just a bit of tendinitis' and that this will work it out in a couple of weeks. He cancelled my appointment with his colleague so that he himself could treat me, also he is more expensive than his colleague. I'm worried about following his advice as stretching a damaged tendon to the point that I have quite a bit of pain seems counter intuitive as this would pull on an already damaged tendon that is trying to heal itself. Gentle stretching and rest and Ice along with light eccentric strengthening exercises seem the most appropriate advice and this is the advice I have been receiving for the last few months and the diagnosis of tendinosis seems to fit my symptoms perfectly.

I would greatly appreciate the advice of anyone who has had experience with issues like this as I am very concerned at this point that nobody has been able to tell me definitively what is wrong and I just don't know what to do at this point because I don't want it to get worse. It doesn't massively affect my day to day activities however being away from my sport and exercise is very depressing and I have read online that this can be a very long term problem and the right treatment is important for recovery. Any advice however little would be massively appreciated. Thanks again in advance.

Tyler.

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