FTL & Glut pain, accompanied by grabbing hamstring sensation

Hi guys,

I've had an issue for several months now, with a grabbing/tight sensation in my hamstring (RHS) - it mostly extends up and down the inner length of the hamstring muscle. Although it can change slightly, and move more centrally.

This is accompanied by a sore/painful TFL. My glute muscles all quite quite tight & sore too... The exact location of tightness in my glutes can radiate around a little, but the TFL is consistently sore.

The issue really presented while playing soccer. I was kicking the ball and then felt my inner hamstring tighten up - I thought I'd pulled it initially. After about 6 weeks rest, the tightness has eased off, however, I still felt this grabbing sensation, which makes running uncomfortable and and I can't really kick a football.

I'm 36 y/o and I'm very active. I've played soccer and run middle distances, since I was an infant! Probably training/playing at least 3 times a week - for most of my conscious life!

I feel like there is a bit of history behind this, I've had similar episodes, which have flared up while running/playing football, for about 10 years now - but none where the symptoms have persisted for so long. Sometimes I've felt this extreme tightening happening in my glute - where a combination of rest and massage has helped release, but this time it's really persisting.

I've seen various and physios and doctors and none have really been able to work out what's going. Physios have suggested various stretches for glutes and some strengthening exercises - which I have been doing for some months. Doctor referred me for a lower back MRI - to rule out sciatica. MRI was pretty clean - lower back in good shape.

I have seen various massage therapists, without much success. However, I've made some slight progress with one recently. She reckons my problems are related to hip alignment - although shes not really properly qualified to diagnose. I seem to be able to get temporary release, via massage - but then things snarl back up. Also If I really aggressively self-massage my quads and TFL, it hurts like hell, but I get a fantastic release! Usually everything snarls back up again over night (in the morning the first few steps are fine - then the pain/grabbing kicks back in) - although recently I managed about 2 days without this grabbing sensation. Went out for a short run, during this period, and it was fantastic to be able to move again uninhibited!

I'm spending probably about 1 hour every day doing various strengthening and stretches exercises I've prescribed by various physios, etc... I think I need to focus a bit more and some of these are probably not helping and maybe making things worse! I think I really need some focus - but not easy to get a consensus from the health professionals I've seen!

Some other symptoms:
- My quads are very tight (although not painful, they are kind-of brick hard -which apparently they shouldn't be!) and this is something I'm addressing with a foam roller, quite aggressively now.
- I have had similar issues on my RHS with my calf muscle tightening up too.

Should I push my doctor to refer me for a hip MRI? I had a gluteal u/s, which didn't show much apart from some minor inflammation (although the guy conducting the u/s said that with my symptoms, I'd be better off with an MRI).

Thanks for any advice!