Hamstring Trouble

irishpeloton

Went out for a two hour spin there last weekend and towards the end felt my right hamstring was very tight. The next morning, I was in a fair bit of pain and walking didn't come easy. The problem subsided after a couple of days but I went out again yesterday and after 15 or 20 minutes on the bike I could feel the twinge in my hamstring again.

Might it be something to do with my saddle height? If so, is it too high? Or too low? Also, I hurt my ankle playing football recently, which has rendered me sufficiently injured enough not to be able to play football, but the pain I feel while running or kicking doesn't seem to affect me at all on the bike, but maybe I've been altering my pedaling style without realising it to compensate for the ankle injury? Anyone got any thoughts?

Thanks,

Cillian

ednwireland

sounds like you need to talk to a physio

Quigs Snr

Hamstrings usually = Saddle too high. But hard to say for sure without knowing what other factors exist.

Lumen

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Hamstrings usually = Saddle too high. But hard to say for sure without knowing what other factors exist.

Yeah, I went through a period of getting a crampy feeling in my hamstrings, which I resolved by raising the saddle height.

In this case it sounds like injury is the more likely cause, in which case messing with the saddle height except under physio supervision will make things really complicated to diagnose properly.

Bonito

Discover source of problem yourself,when are you most affected? In higher gears or lower gears? If in higher gears where you're muscle is tensing and putting more effort in it could be ligament damage or cramping.

Suffer a similar problem myself with my right calf but a good aul stretch keeps it in check before running,jogging,cycling etc.

irishpeloton

Thanks for the replies lads.

Good question about the gearing. When the pain started originally a week ago, it just seemed to get gradually worse as the spin went on, irrespective of what gear I was in. But yesterday, the pain only started when I was going uphill on a low gear.

Might just avail of the free physio in DIT and get it checked.

Oh, the hardships of student life...

poochiem

irishpeloton wrote: »

Thanks for the replies lads.

Good question about the gearing. When the pain started originally a week ago, it just seemed to get gradually worse as the spin went on, irrespective of what gear I was in. But yesterday, the pain only started when I was going uphill on a low gear.

Might just avail of the free physio in DIT and get it checked.

Oh, the hardships of student life...

you've free physio and your asking for internet diagnosis!? Tell the physio about the prior football injury as it may be affecting your gait, if you are compensating for injury it can lead to other problems with muscle atrophy and back problems.

heffsarmy

I find this excercise great for relaxing hamstring muscle,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3BwXOkbWCo

mattock

It might be back trouble, as i too thought i had a hamstring tear, but my physio sent me for a scan and it turned out it was a ruptured disc touching a nerve.
Best of luck.

irishpeloton

My hamstring is still feckin' at me!!

The acute pain has subsided, but it's always niggling at me throughout the spin. I went to the college physio but she found it difficult to diagnose exactly what the cause may be because it could be so many things. She simply advised that I make sure to stretch properly.

I've tried this but it doesn't seem to help much. I first thought that my saddle height may have been wrong, but I'm fairly certain I've ruled this out.

Next I thought the saddle heights on my commuting bike and my spin bike may be slightly different. This is hard to know for sure, but I'm confident enough, after exhaustive tape measuring that they are at the same height.

The girlfriend reckons I may have one leg shorter than the other, or I may have a misaligned pelvis or some such problem, which I believe isn't uncommon. Perhaps.

But then another thought struck me. I've only started getting into cycling long distances in the last year or so. Before this I played football for 15 years. I am right footed, and am sure that my right leg has more muscle mass than my left leg. Surely this could cause problems with the repetitiveness of turning pedals? Has anybody ever heard of this being a problem for footballers turned cyclists?

Thanks

Lumen

Right, since you're skint and I'm curious....

Move your saddle forward 10mm, go for a decent spin and see how it feels.

irishpeloton

I'll give it a go.

What's the thought behind that one? I'm over extending my hamstrings because I'm stretching backwards further than I should?

irishpeloton

Don't forget it's only the one hamstring that's at me (left), that's why I don't think it's to do with saddle positioning, more to do with my physiology.

Lumen

irishpeloton wrote: »

I'll give it a go.

What's the thought behind that one? I'm over extending my hamstrings because I'm stretching backwards further than I should?

Moving the saddle forward 10mm will reduce your effective seat height by 5mm (rule of thumb) but more importantly should unload your hamstrings and load up your quads. You may find you can feel your knees a bit more, if so keep the cadence up a bit.

I am not qualified to give you advice, but it's what I'd do in the same situation.

Lumen

irishpeloton wrote: »

Don't forget it's only the one hamstring that's at me (left), that's why I don't think it's to do with saddle positioning, more to do with my physiology.

Right, so you should get a proper fit (e.g. IrishFit, €70) which will involve checking for asymmetries. But if you really can't afford that, then it's worth doing a bit of playing around yourself.

blorg

irishpeloton wrote: »

But then another thought struck me. I've only started getting into cycling long distances in the last year or so. Before this I played football for 15 years. I am right footed, and am sure that my right leg has more muscle mass than my left leg. Surely this could cause problems with the repetitiveness of turning pedals? Has anybody ever heard of this being a problem for footballers turned cyclists?

I had major knee problems last year with my left knee which after a fair few visits were eventually diagnosed by a new physio who told me simply to look in the mirror while tensing my legs. Right leg was massively bigger than the left one, it was really obvious. This was just from cycling, I must have unconsciously preferred it. You can even see it in my saddle which is deformed to the right. Got some exercises for the other leg which brought it along and problem fixed.

irishpeloton

Great, thanks Blorg, I'm not the only one so! I'll have a good gawk in the mirror when I get home.

Thanks for the suggestion as well Lumen, I'll definitely try that out for the weekend spin.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Right leg was massively bigger than the left one, it was really obvious.

Spooky.

lukester

I went to IrishFit, I had one leg shorter than the other, very common and only brought to light by cycling. Easily rectified. I also had a slightly less developed VMO on my sore leg (VMO is the inner quad muscle, generarlly doesn't get strengthened by cycling, so you need specific exercises for it)

I'd try a few things out, but if it gets no better a physio or even better a full fit is worth the money in my opinion.

blorg

lukester wrote: »

I went to IrishFit, I had one leg shorter than the other, very common and only brought to light by cycling. Easily rectified.

Break and stretch?



There was an article on BikeRadar with various other options

doozerie

In addition to seeking professional advice, if you are not already stretching regularly then you really should incorporate that into your training. Stretching not only helps you recover from certain types of injury but good flexibility will help fend off various injuries in the first place.

If you don't already know of it, a relatively safe hamstring stretch starts with lying on your back with both legs straight. Bend the knee of the leg to be stretched, hold behind that knee with your hands, and slowly straighten the leg. You should feel the stretch in your hamstring, if not bring your knee closer to your chest and slowly straighten the leg again. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds or so (everyone seems to have a different view on how long is optimum), relax for the same length of time, and repeat a few more times. The leg doesn't have to be straight, just straighten it as much as is comfortable. It is a non weight-bearing stretch , so less likely to cause injury or aggravate an existing injury, and relies on the natural tendency of your hamstring ("opposite" muscle) to relax while your quads tighten/tense as the effect of straightening your leg.

irishpeloton

I've gotten the problem sorted. It turns out (stupidly on my part) that my saddle was pointing slightly to the right. Which I guess was causing me to slightly over extend my left hamstring for every pedal revolution. So I have been out a bit since I fixed my saddle and the pain hasn't reared its head as yet.

But as a bonus of having this problem, i've been forced to question my position on the bike and the positioning of my saddle and handlebars. I've also taken to stretching on a regular basis, which I was a divil for not doing before all this. So thanks again to all for the suggestions.