The Beat Goes On (Hamstring Injury)

Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain. La dee da de dee, Le dee da dee dah

I have an injury. This may not be news to you (I have been writing about it for a long time) but I am coming to terms with it. Maybe you noticed my Monday Morning Motivation was about injuries? It helps me to put it all into perspective.

After my chiropractor released my contracted glute muscle, it, and muscles all down my hamstring were inflamed, and I started hitting them hard again, I have been doing everything within my power to grow my legs, twice a week I hit the quads and twice a week the hams. I may have overdone it. 

Wednesday night, a week ago, I trained with Roy, heavy squats and was fine. We tried to see if it was my “magic pants” that made my squats so easy on Saturday and it wasn’t just the pants, I really could knock out some heavy squats; he decided we were going too light when I was able to do 12 reps my last set.

Lunges were next and they also engage the hamstring, the left was painful, the power wasn’t there I stopped early as it hurt and then I become afraid that I am doing harm to myself.

I got home and strapped on my ice pack, once I took it off I could see a large, hard bulge on my left hamstring.

Good looking hamstrings do bulge, but it’s a smooth transition, you should not notice a “lump”. I asked David if he could see anything and he pretty much flipped, it was big. He starts to search on the Internet for what it could be. I don’t bother as I know there is a whole lot of garbage and opinion on the Internet; I will just go see my doctor as I had been told by Dr. Leahy to do.

I texted Roy and told him I would skip my training in the morning, after all, it was hamstring day and it didn’t sound like a very good idea at this point. I slept in and it felt amazing!

I saw my doctor the next morning and described the last two months and my various treatments. He examined me, moved me all which way and checked out the hamstring. I was wearing my shirt and a thong (pants had been removed to see the hamstrings), he asked me to face away from him and bend over. Hmmm…he was sitting butt height, facing my butt, this is rather awkward! Oh well, over I go and he pushes and prods my hamstring and asks questions. The whole time I am thinking "bikini gals do this all the time, what's the big deal?"

On the table on one side, the other, more pushing and prodding. On my stomach and back, again over and over.

The decision? I have a hamstring strain, which is minute tears in the muscle. He said because I never felt a pop or acute pain, it was most likely due to the contracted glute muscle, then all of the muscles became inflamed. The bulge I see is where the muscle attaches to the tendon, and tendons don’t swell and become inflamed, they just tear.  He also found that my left IT band is inflamed and tender.

He asked what I would say if he told me to stop training and I replied “I would say no.” “I thought so” he said.  He has been my doctor since I was 23 years old, so that means 28 years we have been together, he knows me all too well.

He asked if we could then perhaps agree on physical therapy? "Yes, I will do that, no problem!" I replied. I have to continue to take anti-inflammatories  and I also need to get a standing work station for my computer at work.  I can continue to train, but go light on the hammies and stop when I feel any pain. It will heal over time.

I was angry when I left his office, and I sat in the car for a bit just thinking about it all. Then I put it into perspective. Its not like I am an Olympic athlete who has been training all her life for this one moment only to become injured. Not like Walter Dix, who injured his hamstring at the Olympic Trials this June.

I will keep training but need to go easy on my hamstrings, so what will it mean? The worst case scenario is I cannot do my sprints and stairs and am relegated to walking on my treadmill. Glute Ham Raise is out and Roy and I need to find other ways to train hamstrings without causing pain and more damage.

Before I left the doctor's office parking lot, a song came to me and I ended up putting it on my iPod. I am a child of the 60's, the era of free love. This song was on the Billboard top 10 in 1967, and was one of my favorites for years. Sonny and Cher- before Cher underwent so many cosmetic surgeries. The audio isn't the best, but the recording is great. It brings back good memories and will help me to remember that no matter what happens to me:

"The Beat Goes On"

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A Perfect Light Therapy

After my Active Release Technique treatment (A.R.T.), Dr. Leahy suggested one session of A Perfect Light Therapy, he uses these in conjunction with each other and it wasn’t a big expense so I took his advice and scheduled the appointment. Dr. Leahy wasn’t going to be there but Sophia could place the pad where it needed to go.

Above is the machine that the light pad is connected to, I took these laying on the table so lighting and actual image may be a bit off.

I changed into thin, comfortable sweats before I went in, if I was going to lay there for 20 minutes I might just want to doze off. I climbed up onto the massage table and Sophia showed me the large pad, it would be placed over the offending glute.  She said it worked best directly on the skin so I undid the drawstring, dropped trou and she placed it there.

Apparently it can get quite warm, so I was given a small doorbell, just like one you see on your front door, without a door attached. She said to ring it if the pad gets too hot.

She set a timer and left, closing the door behind me. I laid there; it felt great as it warned up, like a nice cozy heating pad. I wanted it over the rest of my body actually.

I looked at my phone, browsed Facebook a bit then put it and my head down and closed my eyes.

Next thing I knew a timer was going off, the door opened and it was Sophia. “I’m not done yet!” I exclaimed. “Are you sure that was 20 minutes?” She assured me it was time and I had to leave. I actually enjoyed the quiet and the warmth.

She asked if I wanted to schedule more sessions and I explained that Dr. Leahy said if this didn’t do it, then I should have an MRI, so no, no further sessions were needed.

I haven’t read enough to understand how the light therapy works, and what exactly it does, but it’s been almost two weeks and my contracted glute has not been bothering me. My hamstring has, and I may just schedule some visits to have this done on my hamstring and not the glute, but that’s a whole other post in the next couple days!

Active Release Technique (A.R.T.)

I finally went into Chase Chiropractic and saw Dr. Joseph Leahy for the muscle pain I have been experiencing in my glute and hamstring. It was Tuesday and I would be there for a seminar afterward, so I spent a couple hours at his office, this actually gave me a great chance to assess how the Active Release Technique worked for this situation.

Dr. Leahy has worked on me before and I was happy with the results. The first time it was more for an athletic performance issue, now I was seeing him due to pain, not only was the pain becoming unbearable, but it was also hindering my athletic performance.

I was led to the exam room and I explained my situation to him.  I told him about the chiropractor at the expo, about the massage and how the therapist said I had a contracted muscle, I told him about my pain and how I am working on my knees at my desk because I cannot sit for long periods of time.


Although it has felt like a hamstring issue, it was discovered that it really was my glute, the muscle originates in the glute and attaches at the hamstring, so it all just feels like one big, tight mass; and since the muscle was contracted, I was fine as I stood, but sitting would cause a lot of pain in my hip, hamstring and glute, and then this of course caused me to favor one side when training quads and hams, not a good thing for someone who is trying to grow the size of their legs. 

 He had me lie on my side and pushed and probed until he found the tender spot. “Yes, it’s your gemellus and your piriformis, the massage therapist must have studied A.R.T or he never would have known about these very small but important muscles.”

A.R.T. is similar to massage, where the soft tissue is manipulated, but the body is moved around in conjunction with pressure on the muscle and the idea is break up adhesion's and offer relief.  Dr. Leahy gave me directions on what he wanted me to do, this is interactive. He would manipulate the glute muscle as I lay on my side on the table, and I would pull my knee up to my chin, with the help of my hand and arm, pulling as far as possible and it would hurt. It was a good pain though, I could feel relief afterward.

He explained that when the muscle gets overworked it can remain in a contracted state, and if it isn’t released it can cut off the blood supply and cause damage. This worried me as it has been going on for a couple months now. I told him after my massage it felt better, but as soon as I tried to run stadium stairs it started back in. “That’s exactly when you would feel it.” He replied. “That’s when those muscles are engaged.”

He said he would be doing the same treatment for 80 football players the following day, he is the team chiropractor for the San Francisco 49ers, training camp is opening and he said many of them have this same issue.

I left and went outside to hangout waiting for the seminar to begin. For entertainment, many people go out to bars or the movies; I go to things like this. I would be having my PH tested (urine sample) and my antioxidant levels tested via laser scan. Then we would listen to a discussion on DNA, aging, supplements, various treatments….boring to you, interesting to me.

At one point just as the seminar was starting I told him it was still tight, he said “Come on” and back we went to the room. Again he worked the muscle, a bit differently and we talked more about the pain. I then did lunges up and down his hallway as he watched, I was able to sink all the way down and not feel the pulling sensation I had been, it felt better!


He commented on my bright pink shoes. I told him he says the same thing every time I see him.

I was able to sit for an hour at the seminar before my quad, glute and hip started aching. I got up and stood. I then talked to Dr. Leahy again and he said it was most likely inflamed and that was causing the pain.  My injury does not require multiple sessions; he said the next step is A Perfect Light therapy, which takes one session and lasts 20 minutes. If the pain was not gone after that, he said I must have an MRI to see if I have nerve damage.

I scheduled the therapy for Thursday; I couldn’t do it Wednesday as I was meeting Roy after work to train quads (and you know I won’t miss training, ever!)

It’s unfortunate that my insurance will not cover this, they don’t cover chiropractic medicine.  A.R.T. is not even chiropractic, it is practiced by other health professionals, but is considered "alternative". I imagine that if I went to my physician I would be given a cortisone shot and then an MRI, and of course if I need to MRI I will go to him to see if I can get it covered by insurance, those are quite costly. I prefer to solve the problem though instead of treat the pain.

As I write this on Wednesday, I have been able to sit all day, but I have felt some slight discomfort. I am taking Aleve and will continue to for a few days. David says “Ice it!” but honestly, my glute muscle is so big, that I don’t see how I could sit on ice long enough to really help the inflammation, but I will in the evening for a bit anyway.

Getting in and out of the car was not difficult as usual, and walking up stairs seemed normal. My hamstrings are sore, but both are sore and equally sore, so I believe that is from the new hamstring workout Roy and I did on Monday evening.

I seem to be on the right track, but only time will tell for sure.

Previous posts on my sessions:


A.R.T. (2nd)


A.R.T. (1st)

Hamstring Pain

Over a month now, I have been dealing with a nagging hamstring. I cannot really classify it as "pain" but I have a very high pain threshold, in fact my family jokes about it. They call me "asbestos mouth", "asbestos hands" and various other things that indicate I feel no pain when others would cry out loud.


I even had natural childbirth because I was afraid of the epidural causing me to become paralyzed. I lived through it. But I only did it once! LOL!


So if you recall, I was told by a chiropractor (at a fit-expo) that I was way out of alignment. I happened to have a massage scheduled a couple days later and he said I had a muscle that was contracted and wouldn't release, it was tensed up and wouldn't let go.


After my massage on Monday I trained with Roy (hamstrings) and hit them hard as usual. My hamstrings were sore for a few days then I trained quads on Wednesday and hamstrings again on Thursday. Walking lunges were difficult, the hamstring was not where it should be.


This morning (Saturday) was quad day, and typically I would be still sore from Thursdays hamstrings. I didn't have a lot of time, I had to get in and out and back home within 1 1/2 hours, I had to get my son to the airport. 


I warmed up and noticed that my left hamstring did not feel more sore than the right, this was a really good sign!


I did my front squats, 4 sets at 135 pounds, 6 reps each set.


On to walking lunges. I was supposed to use a 75 pound bar, but there are two that can have weight added, they were being used and I couldn't wait. I grabbed the 70 pound fixed weight bar.


I was able to do my lunges and didn't feel pain! It was the first time in several weeks. It's funny how when you have an injury, it sort of consumes your life, and it becomes part of your life. You don't notice what it's like to be pain free until all of a sudden you are! It was amazing, my training all of a sudden took on a whole new feeling.


I wanted to stay, I wanted to do more, I felt so good, but I couldn't, I had to go. I did a few sets of kettlebell snatches to get in more posterior work and cardio. I will talk more about the wonder of kettlebells later. 


At home I made a shake and drank it on the way to the airport. Some shopping at the farmers market and laundry, typical Saturday chores (for people who work during the week) and then at noon decided to see how I could so with sprints and stairs, my preferred form of cardio. 


I jogged across the street and hit the stadium stairs, the first set felt fine then the second brought back the same feeling, like the muscle tightened up again and wouldn't let go. I ended up running several sets of stairs but decided to forgo the sprints, I didn't think it would help heal this any faster.


I have an apportionment scheduled on Tuesday with Dr. Joseph Leahy for A.R.T. (Active Release Technique), it will surely fix the issue, I do not have a torn muscle or ligament, the massage definitely helped, I just have a wayward muscle with a mind of it's own, its needs to learn who's boss.