High Hamstring Tendinopathy

[TinyArnold]

Okay thanks for that information Will. The reason I avoided aggravating activities is that I have always read and been told, including recently by Dr Lampainen from Finland, that aggravating exercises SHOULD be avoided, especially stretching of the hamstrings (which an RDL does) and hip flexion which compresses the ischial tuberosity. These conflicting views leave me very confused.

Neverthless, do you have suggestions on how to perform eccentric-only RDLs without spotters?

Who is Dr Lampainen? Does he (she?) squat?

[Dastardly]

I have this, and have done to an increasingly severe extent since I started training in the first place, in around 2008 If I recall.

Im a patchwork quilt of injuries lol.

I started training after I tore knee ligaments, it gave me an asymmetry in squatting, knee instability and reduced proprioception etc... The hamstring seems to be forced in to hyperdrive doing lots of extra work to stabilise the now innefficient badly coordinated leg. And thus... over time tendonisis developed. And because I spent so long with this tight, increasingly inflexible sore muscle/tendon, this in turn affected my mechanics even more.

Altered mechanics + Pre existing FAI resulted in a severe hip labrum tear over time, delaminated!

On the left side, I easily developed the ability to control technique to avoid FAI causing disturbance, but on right side the altered mechanics meant it was aggrevated to the point of tearing.

I have found that GTN patches provide some relief and make it slightly easier to warm up/get limber enough to bend at the hip (deadlift etc). But if you get these, WARNING - do NOT use the reduced pain to push harder with aggrevating exercises like Good mornings, and RDL's. Squatting may even be out, especially low bar.

I also mess around with other stuff for relief, like wrapping a powerlifting knee wrap around the affected area for an entire workout, including cardio, stretching warm up and then lifting.

High pressure rolling/massage, such as resting thigh on top of a racked barbell and rolling back and forth.

A PVC pipe on top of powerplate machine is also interesting.

[Dildo Bolt]

Eccentric only loading works really well. The easiest thing to do is a bilateral concentric and a unilateral eccentric (otherwise you would need something like spotters on a RDL). I've done this to treat my achilles, quadriceps, and distal biceps tendons. It only takes a few sessions before the pain resolves completely.

[silachoo]

@Will, can't wait to try this out. I used this method for bicep tendonitis and it worked phenomenally but that was a bit more simple.