I’ve been dealing with pain on my right left for the past three months. I’m guessing it’s High Hamstring Tendinopathy or something awfully close to it, as the pain is concentrated on my back thigh area, the upper part of my right glute, and somehow in my achiles tendon as well. At first I got injured because I was in a dumb program with lots of intensity and frequency, had a long flight, lots of daily stress, change of environment… a bunch of factors. The last straw might’ve been a heavy deadlift session.
I didn’t have visible swelling. For the first month I had issues walking but I could manage. After that, I started going to the gym again and slowly but surely I could do compound movements again. I started doing the PB 1 template with some modified exercises and with lots of cardio and it was going fine. There was pain but it was tolerable, and right after exercising my leg felt better (I guess ‘warmer’) and the pain was more dull and I could walk without issues. There were days in which I completely forgot about the leg pain, but overall it was fluctuating between a 5 and 2 in pain.
In the past five days or so it’s gotten significantly worse. A few days ago I tried going to the gym but the pain when walking was so sharp that mid-way I just went back home because I couldn’t tolerate it. I went to an orthopedy clinic, they gave me a bunch of Thylenol and similar pills, did an x-ray, gave me an anti-inflammatory shot and did some bs-looking shock therapy. The pills dull my pain for a few hours but I have to be constantly taking them and I know they won’t be a long-term fix.
I went back to the gym today. Exercises that were fine a few weeks ago (Nordic Hamstring Curls, High Bar Squats, rack pulls, etc) now give me a really sharp pain. I might’ve gotten worse because I was trying to push a bit too hard on hack squats or leg presses or something similar. Sitting, lying down on bed and walking all feel painful, to be able to rest I need to take a bunch of the pills. It’s very draining emotionally and it’s affecting my daily life, I’ve had to turn down social plans because I don’t want to be limping all day. 1. I’ve also been on a succesful cut of around -1.2lb of bodyweight per week in order to reach a ‘normal BMI’ (just 3kg more to go) and a healthier waist size. Is the weight cut affecting the recovery of my leg? Should i be on maintenance when managing an injury?
2. How should I proceed, if Nordic Hamstring Curls are also really painful? I tried Safety Squat Bar and that felt alright. Should I use that with a tempo component, as I often see recommended here? Can I adapt the PB1 template with modified exercises and maybe -1RPE on the squat/deadlifts or would I be better off trying the knee pain rehab template?
3. Is there anything I can do to improve my pain tolerance when lying down or walking, or the only thing I can really do is keep gulping down NSAIDs?
EDIT: I actually just purchased the Knee Rehab Template because I thought it could help me (as my lesion is leg related, I guess) and I’m very excited about it, I was scared that it’d be too low volume or too easy but it looks challenging enough to keep me motivated. Hopefully it brings me back some joy for training.