Hamstring/tendon strain

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hi, last night at the track I pulled up with what I thought was a hamstring pull at the time (having torn hamstrings in both legs multiple times before), but unusually (for me, historically) this was at the distal end of the hamstring, rather than rather higher up the muscle.

I was able to slowly walk around, with more limited ROM in terms of knee flexion, and so began with trying to apply the principles of the POLICE approach.

This morning I’ve woken up with the pain also being even further down, in what I believe is then the tendon. This is on the outer side of the my right knee, with the soreness/swelling now being both the very bottom end of the muscle that I can feel there and the outer sinewy part that runs down the back of the knee joint.

If this is correct and it’s a tendon there, and so it’s both the tendon and muscle that’s been strained/torn, is the rehab approach any different? What are the likely implications to return to full fitness? Having had achilles issues in the past I know they took quite a bit longer to resolve than a muscle tear.

Thanks in advance.
Matt

2

I would start out with a similar rehab approach and see if things improve/respond as expected, and modify things more significantly if that doesn’t work.

Here’s our resource on hamstring tendon and muscle strain injuries:

Hard for us to say much regarding the possibility of tendon involvement here without a more detailed assessment, though. Our rehab team would be happy to help with this if needed.