[dave]

yo somehow snowboarding I think i've managed to tear my arse muscle on one side. no idea how i did it. At first i though it was just a bruise, but almost a week after I did it the bruises I have got are fading and yet this is still pretty painful (probably 70% of the original pain/discomfort, if you can quantify pain), and restricting movement. it hurts to sit down, and the muscle itself feels somehow harder to the touch than the other side - feels like i'm sitting on a large pebble or metal bar. kinds feels the root of the problem is where that muscle up the back of the leg joins the pelvis, deep inside the butt cheek. seems to be restricting me lifting my leg up high infront, and i was walking with a slight limp until yesterday.

So does anyone know A. what this could be (strain, tear, etc etc), or B if theres owt i can do to help it recover besides the usual rest, taking it easy or whatever? its really pissing me off cos i've now not climbed for a fortnight and its not looking great for the weekend now. bastards.

[Houdini]

. . . tear my arse muscle . . . 

. . . it hurts to sit down . . .

. . . harder to the touch . . .

. . .  like i'm sitting on a large . . .    . . . root . . .

. . . deep inside the butt . . .

. . . no idea how i did it . . .

 

[GCW]

That'll teach you to pick the soap up in the shower.

Usual recovery, plus gentle passive stretching would be fine.  Google glut stretches.
If you are very tender on the bony bit of your arse (ischial tuberosity) it's more likely a strain of the hamstring insertion (rectus femoris/semiT).

Get someone to give you a deep massage.  And rub your arse... boom boom.

[dave]

Get someone to give you a deep massage.  And rub your arse... boom boom.

its not a prostate strain!


cheers for the advice. how long does it generally take this kinda shit to get back to normal?

[GCW]

2 to 6 weeks generally.  Give it 2 weeks before anything too hamstring-y.
Hamstring stretches will obviously help if it's the latter problem (which is more likely).

its not a prostate strain!

Have you already assessed your prostate to be sure?

[The Sausage]

What is the exact mechansm of injury? Did you pull your leg into a stretched position (if yes, what position), or was it more of a bump?

If it pulled your leg into a stretched position, it certainly sounds like it could be a muscle strain. If you lie on your side and (with a bent knee) do a resisted hamstring curl (use your hand to resist the movement), does it increase the pain? is it painful at rest or just when you try to stretch it or resist movement?

If it was more of a direct bump, it could well be fractured. Is it still painful all the time? If yes to both of these, I'd definitely get it checked out for a fracture - go to minor injuries at the Hallamshire but tell them you did it in the last few days (if you get a physio appointment, you can change your story, nobody's going to mind).

[The Sausage]

...Meant to add: either minor fracture or muscle tear, the management will be pretty much the same - avoid painful positions/activities.
For a muscle tear, GENTLE stretching - to align the muscle fibres correctly as they heal and progressve loading - don't rest for 6 weeks and think you'll be able to pull like mad on that heel. Twang, it'll surely go...

Hamstring muscle tears can be quite persistent, particularly for climbers. Hamstrings aren't really designed for static loading (can you imagine an evolutionary situation that requires pulling on a heel to stay still?) They're for long, fast, low resistance movement (ie, getting the leg back to a position where it can do something useful, like take a step). So you need to be really careful and conscientious about getting it right before you do any strenuous heel hooking.

As it heals, try to re-create the action you need it to do under controlled conditions - lie on the floor alongside your sofa or bed, imagining you're under a big horizontal prow. Gently exert increasing force (over days) through your heel, with it on the top of the bed until you really feel you can give it some welly. You can start this prettty early, using pain as your guide - it may ache a bit, but avoid any sharp pain. Start REALLY gently. It is much better to slowly increase the load on a daily/weekly basis, rather than over-do it and go back to squre one.

[carefultorque]

sorry to hear about that.

years ago, with a very loud crack, I tore the hamstring at the point where it joins the tendon (although I didn't know this at the time.) By the time I'd seen the GP, got referred to see an orthopaedic surgeon and so on, it was a 6-month old injury. the wise men in the hospital looked at the x-ray and said 'avulsion of the left ischial tuberosity: not much we can do now.' 

so get it seen to fast.  in my case, the injury really weakened my left side for a very long time -- ten years! -- as I didn't have proper rehabilitation or physio.  Bear in min that NHS services aren't going to get you back up to an athletic level of performance -- they're designed to return you to 'normal' functioning, which is quite another thing.  So it's better to pay to see someone in the acute injury phase and save yourself a ton of woe.

I still have scar tissue and have to work hard to keep the whole hamstring and arse muscle working properly;)

[dave]

I must apologise to Le Sausage as I've only just seen his replies....

I've no idea what caused it, just remember being back after a days snowboarding and beign aware it hurt to sit down. Anyway about a few days after I originally started this thread it seemed to calm down a bit and didn't really impede climbing any (didn't hurt when heelhooking with it on the terrace for example). Now it feels back to normal though i have been feeling some tightness at the other end of the hamstring (at the back of the knee) after i've been static for a while (i./e. sitting at work) which I assume is to do with the same thing, bit of tightness/stiffness. Anyway i've just been trying to avoid owt ridiculously heel-pully and giving it a bit of stretching massage to loosen it up whenever i remember, seems to be going alright at the moment. the bruises still havent faded though, a fucking month later.

[fatdoc]

sorry to hear about that.

years ago, with a very loud crack, I tore the hamstring at the point where it joins the tendon (although I didn't know this at the time.) By the time I'd seen the GP, got referred to see an orthopaedic surgeon and so on, it was a 6-month old injury. the wise men in the hospital looked at the x-ray and said 'avulsion of the left ischial tuberosity: not much we can do now.' 

so get it seen to fast.  in my case, the injury really weakened my left side for a very long time -- ten years! -- as I didn't have proper rehabilitation or physio.  Bear in min that NHS services aren't going to get you back up to an athletic level of performance -- they're designed to return you to 'normal' functioning, which is quite another thing.  So it's better to pay to see someone in the acute injury phase and save yourself a ton of woe.

I still have scar tissue and have to work hard to keep the whole hamstring and arse muscle working properly;)

wise words....

Dave, go to the sheffield chiropractic clinic, make an appt with Paul Wilson... massage therapist. ex para PT instructor - nuttter... very painful.... very effective... he'll examine you properly 1st to assertain tears / rips etc... very highly rated by some on here and throughout south yorks.... money well spent... you need to get this sorted fairly quick mate.