Grade 2 Hamstring Strain (partial intramuscular tear)

[AhmedD]

I tore one the muscles in my hamstrings, I didn't notice, mistaking it for tendonitis in the hamstring and started playing quite passively and carefully. The pain started getting worse, my dad is an orthopedic suregeon and sports injury specialist, today he told me I had a tear when he saw me using my opld crutches, I am now officially off tennis and am withdrawing from the remaining matches in a doubles tournament. It's not because I don't stretch or warm-up but because I am growing and getting taller my muscles don't grow as quick and tend to shorter compared to the bones, and because its in my genetics to have tight muscles in the legs, my dad, and my grandad suffer from it.

My father has suggested i quite tennis a while back, he said my body is not made for it and is extremely prone to injury, just last month I had a grade 2 ankle sprain, and tennis albow at the same time, when I first started I started suffering from tendonitis in the shoulder and wrist. I understood that in the beggning it was my form, but I dont get it now, my form is fine and is not suppose to put me at risk of injury, my dad says I'm too much of an aggressive player because I move alot around the court, since I am an all-court player type, but ever since my ankle injury I've taken it extremely easy, barely moving to the net and stuck to the baseline. I'm only 16 and already wearing a brace for joints in my right lets, I tore the biceps femoris in my left leg.

I am seriously considering discontinuing tennis, I have never suffered this during Hapkido in which I hold 2nd degree blackbelt and have been practicing since I was 8.

I am taking all the precautionary measures for recovery which my father is guiding me with including NSAIDs, rest and icing.

What do you guys think, is it just because my body is growing and prone to injury at this stage or is it seriously my actual body thats causing this? Should I throw in the towel ?

[charliefedererer]

What type of off court training do you do?

[AhmedD]

What type of off court training do you do?

Weight training, but nothing that would involve much of the lower body, 3 times a week, and cardio for 1.5-2 hours, I make sure I do a full body warmup before doing either for atleast 15 minutes. But on court training with my coach he just starts us off jogging 6 laps around the court, stretching, some speed exercises, then the usual, groundstroke drills, volleying drills, sometimes matches, and in the end some killer fitness.

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

he said my body is not made for it and is extremely prone to injury

because I move alot around the court, since I am an all-court player type,




Look I'm sure your father knows what he's talking about medically and anatomically. But NO ONE's body is made for tennis, or any other sports. There's no point in playing tennis or any other sports if don't move around a lot.

You might be just one of those people that have really short hamstrings. I think I'm one of those people, I pulled it two months ago playing basketball and it's still sore/stiff. But that's just the way it is with an active lifestyle. You do it because you enjoy it, and you'll do everything to maximize that joy.

Don't be discouraged from injuries, they're just part of sports in general. I tore my rotator cuff when I was 16, had surgery, came back. Tore it again when I was 22, had surgery, came back again. I've tore my biceps, sprain ligaments in my ankle, strained my lower back multiple times, strained my hamstrings multiple times. You push your body to its limits, if you exceed that limit and yes you'll get hurt, then let your body heal and test yourself again. Don't be discouraged, I can't wait for my hamstrings to heal so I can start training again.

The key thing is balance, a lot of injuries happen not because of accidents, but because you're putting unnecessary stress on your body. For example, at the gym if your biceps is pulling 80pounds/10reps, try to match that with your triceps, so neither muscles gets overpowered by the other when you're playing. Joints, find exercises that are designed to target the smaller, less powerful ligaments/tendons within your joints. Flexibility, now that I know I'm predisposed to hamstrings injuries, I place heavy emphasis on hamstrings stretches.

[AhmedD]

Things have taken a sudden turn, I noticed today I could walk normally, not anything big just walk, I started speculating about my dad diagnosing this as a grade 2 strain, so I went to the practice courts, stretched a bit, then started rallying, at first I didn't move at all, if a ball was short I'd just walk and replay it, I got excited because it's been a while since I've been on the court, miraculosly I started getting faster and moving more, soon after I changed my mind and started playing a set, I lead 2-0 but stopped because I didn't want to risk it anymore. This is definitley a Grade 1, not 2, but the large amount of rest and icing allowed the muscle to heal faster but made extremely stiff so it augmented the symptoms of pain. In addition, A grade 2 sprain takes atleas 4-6 weeks to fully heally and its a very slow process, its only been a week, so I am glad to say that I should take about another 10-15 days of rest, and do more stretching, and I should be back on the courts... :D

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Things have taken a sudden turn, I noticed today I could walk normally, not anything big just walk, I started speculating about my dad diagnosing this as a grade 2 strain, so I went to the practice courts, stretched a bit, then started rallying, at first I didn't move at all, if a ball was short I'd just walk and replay it, I got excited because it's been a while since I've been on the court, miraculosly I started getting faster and moving more, soon after I changed my mind and started playing a set, I lead 2-0 but stopped because I didn't want to risk it anymore. This is definitley a Grade 1, not 2, but the large amount of rest and icing allowed the muscle to heal faster but made extremely stiff so it augmented the symptoms of pain. In addition, A grade 2 sprain takes atleas 4-6 weeks to fully heally and its a very slow process, its only been a week, so I am glad to say that I should take about another 10-15 days of rest, and do more stretching, and I should be back on the courts... :D

That's what I'm dealing with right now. I can walk, run, even play and jump if I wanted to. But it's still stiff and will definitely get sore afterwards.

[ebrainsoft]

I use this every night for my hamstrings and back, I can play every day now. Ideal Stretch (http://www.idealstretch.com/)

[charliefedererer]

Weight training, but nothing that would involve much of the lower body, 3 times a week, and cardio for 1.5-2 hours, I make sure I do a full body warmup before doing either for atleast 15 minutes. But on court training with my coach he just starts us off jogging 6 laps around the court, stretching, some speed exercises, then the usual, groundstroke drills, volleying drills, sometimes matches, and in the end some killer fitness.

It sounds like you have a pretty rugged regimen for yourself.

When you have recovered, you may want to add in some squats, starting slowly and with easily lifted weights, to actually build up your leg strength.

[charliefedererer]

Things have taken a sudden turn, I noticed today I could walk normally, not anything big just walk, I started speculating about my dad diagnosing this as a grade 2 strain, so I went to the practice courts, stretched a bit, then started rallying, at first I didn't move at all, if a ball was short I'd just walk and replay it, I got excited because it's been a while since I've been on the court, miraculosly I started getting faster and moving more, soon after I changed my mind and started playing a set, I lead 2-0 but stopped because I didn't want to risk it anymore. This is definitley a Grade 1, not 2, but the large amount of rest and icing allowed the muscle to heal faster but made extremely stiff so it augmented the symptoms of pain. In addition, A grade 2 sprain takes atleas 4-6 weeks to fully heally and its a very slow process, its only been a week, so I am glad to say that I should take about another 10-15 days of rest, and do more stretching, and I should be back on the courts... :D

You're a smart guy not to have pushed it even further by playing longer, and deciding you still need more rest. I hope others are learning from your good judgement.

[AhmedD]

It sounds like you have a pretty rugged regimen for yourself.

When you have recovered, you may want to add in some squats, starting slowly and with easily lifted weights, to actually build up your leg strength.

Yeah, I should probably add some more lower, I didn't want to take it far with the lower body because I have Osgood Schlatter, which should go away once my bones fully matures, so I'll start adding in some more, I always thought my legs were extremely powerful because in Hapkido we do alot of running and fitness, plus an insane amount of kicking, strength training should help.