Bill Star Protocol On Torn Hamstring--WORKS!

[David Kirkham]

Rip,

17 Days ago I pulled on my right hamstring (biceps femoris). I was squatting 255 pounds and it tore on rep 5 (PR). About 1/2 way up it felt like a spring started bouncing in my ham string. I immediately dropped to the pins (good thing I have your rack--it has saved me multiple times). Immediately, I knew I was hurt. I started limping, but I didn't think it was that bad. Over the next couple of days it turned the entire back of my knee (and into my calf) black and blue. I couldn't do anything faster than a stiff, tender walk. I couldn't squat down or sit on a hard chair. I searched this forum and found the Bill Star Protocol. After 4 days (when the pain dulled and diffused) I started squatting high rep/low weight (bar only) squats. EVERY DAY I added 10 pounds. Rip found out and was gracious enough to email me personally. He suggested I change to deadlifts instead of squats for the protocol as they work better for healing in this instance.

I switched to deadlifts (again, empty bar at the beginning) and added 10 pounds every day for the first week--3 x 25 reps. The 2nd week I added 20 pounds a day 3 x 25. I ended at 200 pounds 3 x 25 reps--it was a smoker. I was seeing heavenly lights on the last 2 reps. I took yesterday off.

When I went to lift tonight I realized I hadn't even thought about my ham all day. So, I squatted 200 pounds 3 x 25 without the slightest pain. I could have easily done 225. I'll do that Wednesday.

I have many friends who have torn hamstrings and it has bothered them for a year or more. They must have had nasty scar tissue to contend with. I feel like nothing ever happened.

Thanks Rip!

David

[Rich Rowe]

Hey David,

That is *VERY* good to hear - both for you and your hamstring but also because I am embarking on the Starr Rehab Protocol myself today after tearing/pulling a spinal erector (right down low on the right side, just above my belt line) on Saturday - so it's good to know it works!!

My injury doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as yours, and thankfully my weight belt doubles as a handy ice pack holder (I cut one of those wine bottle chiller 'cuff' things in half and use the belt to hold what was the inside against the injured area to save me contorting myself).

Did you have any difficulty distinguishing between rehab pain and re-injury pain? I ask because I just did one set of squats (45lbs x 25) and the area both hurts more yet definitely feels like it's had a good flush through with blood.

Cheers!

Rich

[David Kirkham]

Rich,

Sorry to hear about the injury. 'At least you know you weren't sitting in your butt!' (Rip paraphrase).

I'm completely healed now. Squatted 250 x 3 x 5 tonight. No pain at all. It's magic. It was worse than I thought but I'm totally fine now. It's actually hard to believe.

My suggestion would be to search the site or ask Rip if squatting is the right exercise to do for a spinal erector. I was doing squatting and Rip changed me to dead lifts. Dead lifts zero'd straight onto my ham like Torquemada with hot pincers.

Whatever you do follow his advice. He really helped me. He said make it hurt--and I did. Rep 25 on the 3rd set of a 200 pound dead lift made me see stars. It was ALL I could do. However, at that point, my ham had quit hurting--it was my back that was done for. Nevertheless, every workout made my ham feel better and better (when I was done lifting).

I didn't have any reinjury problems. I think reinjury happens lifting heavy weights too early. The light weights with lots of reps didn't ever make me feel I was at risk of reinjury. The high reps always made my injury feel better. I actually looked forward to working out every day as it made walking easier the next day. The flush with blood was real. I could feel the injury slowly getting washed away every day. Rehab pain and injury pain always felt the same to me--but the pain always got slowly better--never worse.

Good luck man and stick with it!

Happy to share anything I know.

[Rich Rowe]

Hey David,

Many thanks for sharing and for your encouragement - it's much appreciated!

I'm so sorry I didn't notice your reply until now - I've been travelling a lot for work so I haven't kept up with the forum as much as usual.

I have, however, kept up with the rehab protocol, squatting every day with fail, and it seems to be working fine so far!

I've tried my best to make the torn muscle hurt (squats seem to do this just fine) and so far its standing up to the treatment really well.

I found out for myself the difference between re-hab pain and re-injury pain - after the first day's lifting it was very painful after the first set, but had started to 'quieten down' after a short time (I didn't time it but I recall 5-10 minutes) so I felt confident to try a 2nd set (same reaction) and thus a 3rd, then applied ice. It was quite painful but also felt flushed through with blood and, if this doesn't sound too weird, the pain was kind of "exhilarating".

I commenced the work part of the protocol after 3 days of rest, perhaps a little on the early side but my injury wasn't as serious as yours, probably. I certainly started with light weights (empty bar) and this was plenty to begin with.

I have all my numbers recorded in my log - I will post them up in this thread when I complete the process, along with anything else I've learned. Hopefully I will achieve squatting more than I injured myself with, or rather more than I was able to squat when I injured myself (as I didn't incur the injury while training).

I have found that even my dreams feature squat sessions now, since the last few days...

[Rich Rowe]

Here's an update and account of how I interpreted the rehab protocol for muscle belly tears.

In summary, it worked really well, and I have set a new squat PR after going through this process.

Injury in question: a pulled/torn spinal erector, right hand side, way down low near where it attaches to the pelvis. A sharp pain, it felt like I'd been poked in the back by a red-hot poker every time I tried to straighten up my back, lean forward or sit down. A slight complicating factor is that I hurt myself (not lifting weights) about 2 weeks before beginning this protocol, and as the injury didn't seem all that bad, I initially tried to train through it. It became apparent that this wasn't working and the heavy weight was aggravating the injury, so I decided to change my approach. I adopted the rehab protocol from Tues 17th Sept after my previous very difficult and painful workout the preceding Saturday. I finished the protocol yesterday with a new PR.

Chosen re-hab activity: Squats (I think deadlift would have been effective also, but I like squats and they seemed to work the injury well).

About me (in case it's relevant): 5'7", 147lbs, 43 years old. Previous squat PR: 257lbs for 3.

The following figures are copied from my journal, translated into pounds from kilos for the predominantly U.S. audience (and because the numbers are bigger).

Saturday - Monday: Rest
Format: weight (pounds) x reps
Tues....44x25.....44x25.....44x25
Weds....44x25.....44x25.....55x25 <<11lb (5 kg) jumps in weight
Thur....44x25.....55x25.....66x25
Fri.....55x25.....66x25.....77x25
Sat.....66x25.....77x25.....88x25
Sun.....77x25.....88x25.....99x25
Mon.....99x25.....99x25....110x25
Tues....99x25....110x25....121x25
Weds...110x25....121x25....132x20 << down to 20 reps
Thur...121x25....132x20....143x20
Fri....132x20....143x20....159x15 << 15lb jumps, 15 reps
Sat....143x20....159x15....176x15
Sun....159x15....176x15....192x15
Mon....176x15....209x15....209x10 << down to 10 reps (1)
Tues...192x15....209x10....225x10
Weds...(2)
Thur...209x10....225x10....242x9 (3)
Fri....(4)
Sat....225x5.....242x5.....258x5 <<< Finally down to 5 reps, new PR.


Notes:
(1) - The middle figure isn't a typo - I misloaded the bar somehow and only noticed after my set. Made the final set seem easy.
(2) - had a very tiring day in work, and was feeling quite spent in general, spent most of the evening asleep
(3) - last few reps were starting to get ugly and keeping perfect form is important - decided to end the set at 9
(4) - most of this rehab was undertaken whilst working in various locations either a long drive or a plane ride away from home, on this day it took nearly 5 hours to drive home so I skipped the re-hab work in favour of food & sleep.

I almost forgot to mention that all this work was undertaken without a belt. Actually, I did use a belt, but not to lift with, just to hold an ice pack against the painful area.

Thanks to Rip for making this protocol accessible, I hope this real-life example will prove a useful accompaniment to the description. I used the text I found here: http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Injuries . In case that link changes, copy this into google to find it site: startingstrength.com starr rehab