Ready to Vault!

Ready to Vault!

Yeah, I know how weird this sounds after Wednesday's post, but I've been busy looking for solutions.  I've done a lot of research about this "catch" in my hamstring.  First, it's in my right hamstring and vaulters only ever hurt their left, or take off leg for right handers.  So what was the cause?

I went bodysurfing for the first time in years, and when taking off to catch a wave, it requires a very explosive set of kicks led by my right leg with a fin on it.  I immediately felt the quickness of the reaction was new to the hamstring.  It didn't hurt but it sure woke it up.

Over the next few days I had soreness in the area but didn't think anything of it.  When I went to run the next time, I felt some tightness, but again I didn't think much of it.  As I came back to running on subsequent days, it seemed the soreness for the most part was gone, but there seemed to be a "catch" in the range of motion.  To me this meant an adhesion or bit of scar tissue in the fascia.

Of course stretching is the common action and I already do a lot of that.  On two cases I felt my hamstring sore like I had strained it. My guess was that it really wasn't hurt, but rather this was the inflamed reaction of the adhesion breaking loose.  Of course it's going to heal back and stick again.

I belong to a massage "club" but I just don't have the time to block out 2 hours for the massage and the commute.  I canceled my membership and got online with some friends and some videos.

Long story short, too late, I found a few ways I can  directly impact the area to keep my hamstrings free of adhesions.  I had done one of these techniques and had a big breakthrough, but when I didn't use this technique between that running session and the next one, I had another faux strain caused by the adhesion breaking loose.

Since Wednesday I have used the knobbed hard rubber roller, used the "Fascia Stick" we got from Ashley Black, and set up to include running my fingers deep in between the muscles both while relaxed and stretching.  The result?  Wednesday I posted that I was out of the meet next week.  Today, four days later, I'm good as new with a six day leg break in between.

Now I have, and have had a similar catch on my right hip flexor, but its more of an annoyance than an injury.  It too goes away overnight with the Fascia Stick.  My guess is that this hamstring issue will recur if not watched, so I have incorporated this full treatment into my day.

So back to the original game plan for the meet, which I will discuss in the next post.  Thanks so much for checking in on me!  Bubba

Motley Crue - "Wild Side" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nm1BJPe-pg