Distal Hamstring Tendinitis (Tendinopathy?) Problems
Male, 22, 5’10, 225 lbs, poor~fair posture and body structure due to prior years of sitting (sedentary) and being generally immobile and inactive. Sorry if the post is very long.
TL;DR — The initial pain/inflammation of hamstring tendinitis (tendinopathy?) has subsided entirely, and I am currently only doing the lying hamstring curl machine about twice a week, doing eccentric reps 10-12 for about 3 sets.
However, light cardio activity causes distal hamstring inflammation to resurface for about 1-2 days, until disappearing again. Example would be me doing the cardio row machine for about 5 minutes last week, which caused the inflammation to resurface. And another example would be me a few days ago doing some minor yard work (pulling weeds) for about 20 minutes, causing slight inflammation in right hamstring tendon.
So really my main questions from this entire post are:
- If I'm not feeling any distal hamstring pain while neutral or inactive, how can I know when I should be able to return to cardio activity (such as cardio rows, running, or yard work) without aggravating the hamstring tendons?
- Are there any other rehab exercises I should be doing?
Background:
Have been dealing with hamstring tendinitis since about the end of January (let’s say January 30?), which I believe truly ‘occurred’ while performing weighted dumbbell RDL—was performing the rep and I heard a slight popping sound & felt movement in my right distal hamstring area without any pain, and I continued the workout as normal.
I had minuscule hamstring pain in this area many months prior (6-12 months), only from riding my bicycle, but it was a very negligible pain that I hardly felt, and which typically went away after a day.
Anyway, so after I felt that popping sound and movement in my right distal hamstring, I stopped and moved it around to see if there was pain or anything, but there wasn’t, so I continued the leg workout as normal.
I finished the workout, rested for about another 3 days, and performed another leg workout, pain free.
The morning after the second leg workout, I woke up and noticed something wrong with my hamstring, very noticeable inflamed pain in the distal hamstring area now. A burning sensation in the hamstring area.
I’m not sure how to give a 1-10 pain scale rating, but I frequently had to alter my gait and lean on my other leg while standing to reduce pain when mobile.
So I paused all leg work, no cardio, etc.. and just rested for about 1-2 weeks hoping it would get better. After that duration, it did slightly improve, so I went on a bike ride for about 7 minutes, and when I came back, it was worse and I now had distal hamstring pain in my left hamstring as well.
I waited about a week and decided to schedule a doctors appointment (we’re at February 20 now, about 3-4 weeks since approximate date of injury). Doc told me that I probably do have tendinitis, and told me to just wait 2 weeks and if it gets worse to call him back to do an MRI and maybe get physical therapy referral. He also prescribed me Diclofenac 1% Topical Cream
I applied this cream everyday in the distal hamstring of both of my legs for 2 weeks, three times a day. By March 5 (2 weeks later), the pain was pretty much gone entirely.
After that I began doing hamstring strengthening exercises—specifically the lying hamstring curl machine, about 2-3 times a week, with eccentric curls at a semi-challenging/medium weight.
Now it leads us to the current position I'm in. For the last few weeks since beginning hamstring curls, I've been stuck in this segment where I do not feel any hamstring pain/inflammation while inactive or neutral or just walking, but light cardio (running, cardio rows, bending over [yard work], etc..) causes aggravation and inflammation to resurface.
The main issue is, how do I know when I can return to doing cardio without aggravating my hamstring tendons? Do I just have to keep doing rehab and then testing every month or so?
Thank you.