IT Band?

[Catrin]

[URL="http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/784"]...
ETA: I know I'm spending too much time here if I remember your injuries better than you do.

LOL - that is funny It WAS an unusual set of injuries to have all at once in the same leg. Leave it to me!

[Catrin]

*$%^#@&$()#&$%_#*$%# *$&%(#&$(@!&$($#& it!

I just went for a walk - just had to get outside even if I am taking 2 days off the bike...and by the time I got home my hamstring in the same leg was complaining (up where it connects with my glutes and also the back of the knee). It seems that I managed to tweak both the old satrorius and hamstring injury this week somehow

Off to the foam roller and stretching, this is not going to be fun. I don't think it is serious...at least the old quad injury appears to not be acting up. Wish I knew how...I thought I was easing back into things properly. No lower body weights for awhile, I suspect that I over-did things Monday without knowing it.

[indysteel]

My hamstring injury from last year was tendinitis at the insertion point to my glute. The foam roller kind of helped, but what helped even more was a small massage ball or tennis ball. I more or less sat on the ball on the floor and rolled over the ball at the most tender spots. It hurts a lot as as do it, so be forewarned. Stretching also helps so long as I hold the stretch for at least a minute. My favorite is to lay on the floor with the injured leg extended straight up in the air and the other leg flat on the ground. Grab behind the thigh and hold or use a yoga strap around your flexed foot.

[Catrin]

Thanks for the tip Indy, I will see if I've something that will serve the purpose. I couldn't quite get to the sore area with the foam roller, it's too large and has the wrong shape. If nothing else my bathrobe strap will help me hold the leg up. I did have tendinitis in the hamstring (in the same place you did) at the same time that I pulled it and the quad, so this makes perfect sense. I wonder if the hamstring caused the sartorius to flare? That is probably over-thinking...

[ny biker]

My trainer recommends using a lacrosse ball when a foam roller is too big. I need to go buy one.

I strained my back at the gym a few months ago (aggravated a chronic problem with my sacroiliac on the right side) and managed to make it worse while stretching. I think it was due to bad form during an IT band stretch that messed me up. I had pain alternating in my back and on the outside of my calf. The main thing that healed it was time (with very careful stretching and avoiding the weight training exercises that aggravate the SI joint).

I'm still having some back/hip pain at night, but I'm hoping that stepping up the foam roller routine with help with that.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh. Hope it feels better soon.

Lacrosse ball sounds good. A darning egg would work to just sit on, but it wouldn't roll evenly since it isn't spherical. I have a 7" foam ball that works pretty well too (plus it's nice for travel because it's big enough to get into some of the areas that I'd normally use the roller on).

[indysteel]

When my hamstring injury flares, the pain refers down the side of my leg and that's actually what bothers me the most. It almost mimics sciatica in that sense. The massage ball I use is from a company called Trigger Point Therapy, but any hard ball will do. I keep a tennis ball in my car and at my office. I hadn't thought of a lacrosse ball.

I've been living with this for some time, and have kept it pretty well under control with some massage after my initial round of PT. I do a lot of exercises to strengthen the hamstring, too. Bridges are one of the most effective, along with some balance poses. My PT warned me that it could take a very long time to heal and that it might long bother me. So I would suggest that you incorporate some massage on a regular basis, even if it stops hurting.