Pulled hamstrings

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Tammy, Jul 1, 2003.

  1. Tammy

    Tammy Regular Member

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    I pulled my right hamstring a few weeks ago, and this is the only explanation for that. The quads and the hamstrings are opposite and connected muscles. When the quads are stronger, they pull the hamstrings when I overstreched with lunges while playing. I always stretch thoroughly before and after playing, so there should not be problems related to stretching. I do squats and lunges regularly, but neglected the hamstrings. I can still play, but it hurts a little bit when I lunge with an angle of more than 90 degrees. I'm doing strength exercises for the hamstrings using ankle weights (e.g., hamstring curls).

    I wonder if anyone has got this problem. If so, how long did it take your hamstrings to completely recover?

    Right now it's really frustrating to see the shuttle drop and know if I lunge further I can get it, but I should not do that so that my hamstrings can recover.
     
  2. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    Maybe your lunging technique needed to be refined.
    I considered myself very unflexible (muscle wise) but never encountered any problem relating to pulled muscle.

    I think this is a good opportunity for you to do stroke training (shot refinement) and less involve with movement so that your hamstring can recover. When u do recover, u should ask someone that is good in singles to show you how he/she do lunges.
     
  3. Phil

    Phil Regular Member

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    Hamstrings are the muscle that is very important to flexibilty. They're important for the front splits. I'm currently doing the stretches in the Downey book, and I am getting more flexible, almost can do the front splits.

    I've pulled my right hamstring a few times, and the recovery time depends on the severity of the muscle injury. Over a year ago I somehow twisted my leg in the hip joint or something with a sudden change of direction while lunging, and I couldn't walk normally for a couple months, my hip makes a popping noise every time I extend that leg now, and my hamstring was injured in the process such to the point that it lost a fair bit of flexibilty. My left leg is more flexible than my right because of that, but the Downey stretches are closing the gap.

    A few months ago, I was playing in a school tournament at a gym with a dusty floor, and I asked that the court be swept to avoid injury, but they refused. Lo and behold, my right foot slips forward on a lunge and my right hamstring is pulled. I still made it through the day, and at the time, I had been doing the Downey stretches and I was getting almost to the point of doing the splits. Well, that injury set my right leg back a month or so in terms of flexibility. It took about 2 weeks before I could not feel the pain from it, although I did use muscle anelgesics to avoid the pain during playing in tournaments.

    What I'm hoping is that once I achieve the splits with stretching, hamstring injury will be pretty much non-existent after that.

    It's a part of the recovery, just taking it easy while you play. As cooler said, it's a good time to work on shot technique instead of movement while your leg recovers. Hope you get well soon.

    Phil
     

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