In warmups for working out today, while doing some stretches to focus on hamstrings, I experienced the following:

-Audible, and certainly felt pop right behind the knee.
-Instant pain
-Impaired walking
-Went inside and asked my wife if anything looked wrong with the back of either leg. She pointed out a small bruise and touched exactly wear this occurred.
-Minimal swelling at back of knee or just above.
-I can walk but definitely careful with range of motion and stretching of the hamstring.


Thanks in advance. Im not youngster and I've never torn/pulled a muscle.

I've heard good things about getting it dry needles by a physical therapist early. In my personal experience, hamstrings can take a long time to heal. I'd definitely suggest PT early to keep you on track and keep you from reinjuring.

First, wait to worry. Likely a partial tear at worst, as a full tear would be catastrophic. It will require some rehab but could heal without too much work. After a few days, IF it still hurts, have a Dr. who is a sports specialist look at it. He or she is the only qualified person who can see what's actually wrong here and give you options. The fact is, PTs can only do so much. But I lean toward the evidence based fitness community. Pts can help, but as most studies show, you likely get the most out of the first visit and take that info and work on you own doing the exercises they show you. But, it's your call on that. Physical therapy won't hurt you. But a lot of PTs are full of BS too. But some are very good. Depends on who you get...Adam Meakins is a great PT to follow. He uses evidence and calls out a lot of BS.

A few questions, what warm ups were you doing that caused the injury? I hate to hear the injury happened in the warm up, the very thing that is supposed to help prevent injury.

Here is my advice on warming up. At this point, I almost don't do any warmups that aren't exercise specific. So, for instance, if I have seated hamstring curls, I don't go to the mat and do 15 "mobility" exercises. I literally get on the machine, do a 30 rep max weight (ie something light) and do 10-15 slow, methodical reps and work up from there. Each rep done as if you were doing your target weight. I do this 2-3 more full sets of around 8, 5, and 3 reps on the last warmup set and then do my target weight 1st real set. This is if the exercise is the first one. Usually I only need 1-2 warmup sets for any exercise after that. The key is "warming" the muscle up. Anything else, honestly, is overkill and likely useless unless its a brisk walk on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike or elliptical for about 5 minutes, especially if its cold out side. Now, there are some specific situations where more maybe necessary. So those are on a case by case basis. And sometimes its a good way to get your mindset right, if anything. It can get you dialed in. And don't get me started on the uselessness of foam rolling. The science just doesn't back up any of the claims. But, the one good thing about foam rolling is it warms up the body due to the way you have to hold yourself in different positions while rolling. Otheerwise, pretty mush every study on the potential benefits of foam rolling show is being useless.

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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I've heard good things about getting it dry needles by a physical therapist early. In my personal experience, hamstrings can take a long time to heal. I'd definitely suggest PT early to keep you on track and keep you from reinjuring.

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There is no good evidence that dry needling does anything to help heal an injury. Again, if a patient thinks it helps, that alone may offer some relief, but most studies show nothing actually happening regarding healing or pain relief. Again, I will likely piss off some with this, but until there are really well done studies creating enough meta analysis showing evidence to support benefits for treatments like dry needling, dry cupping, acupuncture, massaging, tissue scraping etc, I would categorize these treatments as useless at this point. There are much better treatments out there...

Ten years ago, I had the same but with my IT band. I heard a loud audible pop and then had a HUGE bruise on the side of my hip and going down my leg. (I have a pic but doubt y'all wanna see a pic of my hairy butt). It's the size of a dinner plate.

Yoga chick gave me some good stretches and I worked through it.

Thank you all.

I work out daily (sometimes miss due to schedule) following the MTN Tough app. The workouts I do require minimal equipment (few dumbbells, kettle bells, box or cooler, bench, pull-up bar, and sometimes my backpack). It's coach led (watching the tv screen) and they do certain warms up each day.
Yesterday, warm ups include what MTN Tough calls dyno kicks. Basically, while standing flat, you kick one leg up and out straight while reaching to it like a toe reach, then when you bring it down, you take it straight behind you and up, and bend at the waist reaching toward you standing foot. Next kick, you change legs.

It was doing this and standing on left leg, kicking up and then back the right leg that when I reach to the left foot, it popped.

Today, pain is minimal and walking is awkward but doable with minimal pain.

I like the idea of rest and see how it goes, but I have scheduled a PT appointment for Friday just to get started with basic therapy.

It is certainly not torn from the bone and I suspect just needs some good nurturing to heal.

Good plan. RICE

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. PT would be good to get the best stretches.

Yeah, placebo effect is very powerful. Would be a very difficult task to create a study with enough power that shows statistical significance while maintaining blinding.

I'm a fan of dry needling, personally. I feel it makes a difference when Ive had it done. I don't think it's a cure all. But I've known several PTs that have anecdotally states that they can often get athletes back to activity quickly if they needle the strain shortly after injury.

Any updates, OP?

This thread went straight to the top of my head this morning. I injured my hamstring doing jiu-jitsu this morning.

Tried to do something explosive, and felt a pretty significant pop with instant pain on my posterior thigh about halfway between my hip and knee.

I was able to get up and walk with minimal pain as long as I did it very gingerly.

This happened about 30 minutes ago and I am home icing now and hoping for the best.

Update:
As some here suggested, being too concerned at first turned out to be unwarranted. Despite the sound and pain that first day, two mornings later it almost felt normal unless stretch even in the least. I went to PT for an assessment and some recommendations on exercise. The R.I.C.E. Protocol was good advice. I still can't push it but am back to working out and just being careful with the hamstring. PT advised I not increase the pain more than a 2 spot. So, if I start at a 1, don't push it more than a 3 on a ten scale.

I was truly surprised at how much better it was with the RICE alone in 48 hrs.

Thank you all.

I hope yours is like mine. If so, you'll be good in no time.

That's awesome. Happy for you!

Yeah, I have tweaked my hamstring plenty of times but this is the first time there's ever been a significant pop so it really rattled me. But it's good to know that you experienced something similar and recovered so quickly.

I've been icing quite a bit already, but I had to get to work, which involves a lot of walking and activity. No way around that for me. Will keep up with the RICE.

Awesome. Hit up the ibuprofen for anti-inflammation too. When I've been to a doc, they prescribed me 600 - 800 mg. But, as you know, you can just get that OTC.

I was diagnosed with Haglund's deformity (bone spur that rubs my Achilles tendon, especially with the incorrect shoe) and have a Meloxicam prescription. That is next-level stuff. I only take that when things go way South.

https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/difference-between-meloxicam-ibuprofen-3504403/

Sounds to me more like a knee ligament issue.

I've pulled my right hamstring a couple times playing sports and it was always from a high intensity push off.

I have almost a full 30 days of meloxicam I recently was prescribed for knee arthritis/meniscus pain and I took one this morning.

The pain is not severe but it's a dull ache that is kind of nauseating.

Useless? They arent useless. Overstated ? For sure.

Any advice on easing back into exercise/rehab?

I am 11 days out. It's significantly better in that I can walk without much pain but certain things are still pretty uncomfortable like bending over to tie shoes or sitting on a toilet (sorry for tmi).

Definitely tender when stretched even a bit. I am willing to wait as long as necessary to help ensure no setbacks but I am anxious to resume more activity.

I did see an orthopedic specialist the day after the injury and he wasn't worried about it. He said it appeared to be a small tear in the belly of the muscle.

He made it sound like I could get back into jiu-jitsu after about a week, but I am pass that and I still don't feel nearly comfortable for that

My knee was all banged up and I got a cortisone injection the first part of last week for pes bursitis. I walked on the treadmill all week (cold outside) and did about 2.25 miles on Sunday where I intermittently ran and walked.

Kinda sore knee, but bearable. I'll take a day off and do it again. Anyway, that's the plan.

Talk to me in a week and I'll tell you if that works!

Edit: For a hammy injury, I'd do the foam roller a bunch. Also, I bought one of those massage guns. Get the wife or GF to hit the back of your hammy with that.

Yeah we have foam rollers and percussion gun. But been nervous to try either yet

I would see a PT in your local area. It can be very helpful. You can start with these exercises and let me know how it goes. It sounds like you need to be doing more.

Thanks!