Hamstring Tender To Palpation

[Donjman]

Hi,

I am very serious about my sport, Let me tell you about the history of my injury to put you in the picture a little.

3 Years ago, i used to do karate, during training I felt a very serious strain when doing punch that requires a twisting of the torso, the pain i felt is here:



I had to stop training, and went straight to hospital, they said its a bad bad strain after Xraying lots to check there was no breaks or fractures, they sent me home with a box of ibroprofen.

I did no rehab, and rested for 3 months. I went back to karate, 2 months later same thing, same strain, i rested for 3 months and went back again to karate.

6 Months down the line, same strain, maybe a little worse, required 3 months of rest, I stopped karate at this point.

I then started my sport, and only during the strength traiing pullups chinups did i feel a pain in my back. I would rest for 2-3 days and continute, i just accepted something wasnt right and that was that.

I eventually saw a physio, this was about 18 months ago, he didnt seem to interested and said i had a weak back on my left side and i needed to sort my posture out. He gave me some strengthening exercises.

I wasnt making to much progress and i just gave up with the physio after 2 months it felt like he wasnt listening.

Went back to my sport, just ignoring the pains resting for a few days/

6 months ago, i saw a physio about my hamstring, he sorted me out with a nice program, and i mentioned my rib/back injury. He found a nice lump which i can clearly feel, he told me to work with it on a daily basis and said i need to strengthen my back. I couldnt afford to keep seeing him, a shame cause he was a good physio.

At this point, my left hip started hurting, worse and worse, my hamstring was better, and i realised i had to sort this scar tissue out, and get a strong back!

SO i saw an NHS physio, she assesed me 3 weeks ago, found the scar tissue, said my back was weak and sent me for a course of physio.

Which brings me to today!

I have hip pain and back pain after light swimming, running, and leg strengthening, and proglonded sitting.

Heres where i get the pain:



On a daily basis im really going at the scar tissue, after 2 months i feel there is a little less, its got less of a grip. But i do need some help with that.

Sorry that was a long history.

Currently, i am waiting for an NHS physio and am really strengthening my abs, leaving my back well alone.

Any advice, strengthening, stretching, scar tissue tips, thoughts, anything, is very appreciated cause i dont see this NHS phyiso coming through for months....

Thankyou very much in advice.

Justin

[alophysio]

Hi Justin.

Thanks for responding. Believe me, if you want help, then your history can never be too long on a site - we can always ignore what is not required!

OK, firstly, I don't think you back problem is a simplistic one. The area you indicate seems to be over some ribs. Has anyone ever examined your thoracic spine properly? You might do well to contact LJ Lee in Canada to see if there is anyone she knows in the UK near where you live. She is an awesome physio who is doing research into the kind of pain you have.

Next, Becuase it doesn't seem that anyone has really dealt with what is probably an unstable rib injury, you aren't progressing. This can have implications for your low back and pelvis and then onto your hip and hamstrings.

I don't think your solution will lie in simply doing strengthening exercises. You need to sort out the reason why these things are happening and i don't think you are simply "weak". It has to do with how well your joints are working, your muscle strength and how the whole system coordinates.

To be honest, I am Australian so I don't understand how the NHS system works but it sounds like you are on some waiting list to see someone you don't have to pay for and you get to see them for a limited amount of time. Is that right?

Now, again i speak out of ignorance, but the type of physio you need would probably not work in the NHS system. It requires a higher level of knowledge, understanding and skill, so much so that they probably own their own businesses or get highly paid for the knowledge they have. I can tell you that in Sydney alone, there would not be many physios at all who can competently deal with the ribs in a specific way - maybe less than 10-20 practices in a city of 4 million people and loads of physios. And that is probably being nice!

LJ Lee's website is www.ljptconsulting.ca - email her and ask who you can see for treatment and a programme. Honestly, it would be worth the money if you got onto the right person. Perhaps physiobase would know someone - you can also PM him!

Let us know how you are going. There are more things we can do to help but i would need to be able to put my hands on you to help...

[Donjman]

Thankyou very much for your advice i really do appreciate it,

I recived a ltter today saying i have a course of physiothrapy in january, so I will attend that with fingers crossed.

If no joy, i wont hesistate to contact LJ Lee.

Oh just one more thing?

Scar tissue, its a pretty common thing? I mean any physio will want the scar tissue out of the equation to make things less complicated?

Right now im just massaging it quiet aggresivley for 10 minutes a day, would you reccomened that? Or would you know a better way i can get rid of it myself?

Thankyou again.

[alophysio]

Hi,

Without seeing you, in general, I wouldn't get too caught up on the whole scar tissue thing. It really doesn't sound like the root of your problems otherwise all the work you are doing on it will be making significant differences.

I have a simple philosophy - if it works, do it - if it doesn't work, don't bother.

So far, your story has been running along a certain line with little results. You still can't play your sport (which i don't think you have mentioned yet). You still can't do karate. It has been ages since you hurt yourself. Have a look at some of the elite athletes and the really bad injuries they have - they manage to get themselves back on the park after 6months after doing a knee reconstruction. It seems to me that you need a different approach because the one you are on is not working good enough IMHO. I think you have massaged your scar area more this year than i have massaged patients (if that gives you an idea of how much i massage "scar tissue" - i.e. hardly ever). You would be lucky if i massaged a total of 10 minutes during a full week of work, let alone 10mins/day.

Do the ground work now - find out who the physios who know this stuff are. You are at long odds to find someone through the NHS system if it is anything like the public system here in Australia - a real hit-and-miss affair i am afraid with lots of "young" physios just out of college (or old ones wanting to retire with little stress!).

Anyway, let us know how you get on!