Hamstring, glute, back injury

Hi guys,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
I'll start with a history of my injuries.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
February 2008, after long periods sat my desk writing essays, I played football twice in two days, both times without warming up. The second time, after shooting, I got a pain in my hamstring. I tried to run it off for a few minutes, but it didn't go away, so I stopped.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The next day it got quite painful and I was limping all over the place. I cannot quite remember where in the hamstring but, I think, it was towards the top of the muscle and fairly close to the gluteus maximus.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
I waited for the pain to go and until I could run again - about 6 weeks - and played football once more. This time, the region between my left gluteus maximus and hamstring became painful.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Two months after the original injury (April 2008), I went to see a physio and she thought it was more an underlying problem with my back, as opposed to the hamstrings. I didn’t actually notice any acute pain in my back until she’d had a go at it, from which time it became a real problem. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I saw her on and off for about four months where she did massage therapy to my mid-back and mid-lower back, even though the source of the problem was quite clearly in the lower back, near my tail bone.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I stopped seeing her in October 2008 and went about doing torso strengthening exercises and some swimming. However, the back didn’t really get much better. In December 2008, when bending over to pick something up on the train, I aggravated my back badly and decided to see the physio again.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Since January 2009 I have been seeing a new physio. In my first session, focusing on the lower-right section of the base of my back, she used ultra sound and a machine the name of which I don’t actually know, but which feels almost like a drill, only not painful. (To get an idea of where on my back this was placed, it would cause the nerves running to my right gluteus maximus to twitch).<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Immediately, there was a HUGE difference and my back was better than it had been at any point over the previous 10 months. She continued this approach until the end of March 2009, when she then started to concentrate on an unrelated shoulder problem. Throughout this period I had been pushing ahead with swimming, slowly increasing the number of lengths I did.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On 24 March 2009, I joined in a bit of a football pre-match warm-up kick-about with some mates where I did minimal light running, a bit of light, short-range passing and a few shots at goal. I came through unscathed.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On Tuesday 31 March 2009, I joined the same mates in the same scenario, but pushed myself a little more, with a bit more running, some more passing and moving and a bit more shooting. There was no sprinting, prolonged running or bursts of pace. AT NO POINT DID I FEEL ANY REAL PAIN IN MY GLUTES OR HAMSTRINGS.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On Wednesday I felt aching in all the right places – mostly my glutes. I thought I could feel a minimal amount of pain lower down in the hamstring, but couldn’t pinpoint where and passed it off as me being paranoid. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On Thursday evening, however, when putting my legs up on the sofa, I definitely started to feel some soreness in my right hamstring. It got slightly worse as the night went on.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
On Friday, I ran a couple of hundred metres to get to an appointment at about ½ pace, and then started to feel some pain just under my right bum cheek. I was forced to do a fair bit of walking during the day and later felt pain lower down in the hamstring area. I started to limp, at which point the left side of my lower back began to hurt, I presume through the added pressure placed on that side of the body through limping.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Since, I have felt pain in my gluteus maximus, and above my right hip, around my love handles but more towards my back than my stomach. I have felt pain in the top of the hamstring, directly under my bum cheek, and I’ve felt pain lower down the hamstring.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Apologies for having to see my horrible bum, but below is a picture of the injured area (it might take a while for it to be approved).
<o:p></o:p>
Regions 1 and 2 are currently giving me the most pain. It is a slow throbbing pain which comes and goes in terms of severity, but which is pretty much constant. Region 1 was most prevalent last night, but region two has been getting progressively worse and is currently probably giving me more discomfort.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
If anybody can shed any light on what this injury might be or on what I can do to prevent it getting any worse, then any comments would be hugely appreciated.
<o:p></o:p>