Lunch Date with Osteopath on 3 Feb`07 (Sat)

Paul, my osteopath, was shaking his head when I listed down my problem areas -- he had to patiently wait for me to describe my injured shoulder from skiing and hip & knee pain from running. First he checked my hip -- way off as my pelvis was rotated again! He started with my shoulder -- there was a strain @ biceps as it was painful when he massaged. Next, he tried to identify the point where I felt pain at the back of my knee. Bad news -- it was a tendon micro-tear @ my hamstrings! Felt a burning sensation when he massaged -- OUCH! He moved on to ease my hip pain with his elbow -- PAIN! This was followed by massage on my ITB to ease the knee pain... Phew, was glad when the pain therapy was finally over! More bad news -- to allow the micro-tear to heal, he advised me to stop running for at least 2 weeks -- no bike either, juz swim :( He will review my recovery a week later -- and see how soon can I get back to runnning. That's on the condition that I dutifully do the stretching exercises for my shoulde, hip and knee and ice my knees daily. Also, it will do me good if I train up my core muscles and stability...

Here's some links on hamstring injury :-
1) Hamstring Injury
2) Extract from Hamstring
In my experience dealing with hamstring strain in long distance runners’ I find that they do not have an imbalance with the quadriceps muscle being stronger than the hamstring, but just the opposite the hamstring is stronger than the quadriceps. This can happen if there was a previous injury to the knee leading to residual atrophy of the quadriceps muscle. In many circumstance the quadriceps and hamstring muscle work synergistically to extend the knee. If, the quadriceps muscle is weak the hamstring will compensate in order to extend the knee. This leads to an over worked hamstring muscle. Another muscle imbalance, which can lead to hamstring strain, is a weak lower abdominal muscle (external oblique abdominal muscle) and an overly developed hamstring muscle. This situation can occur on one side of the body if there is a history of an inguinal hernia. In certain situations both the lower abdominal muscles and the hamstrings act to tilt the pelvis in a posterior direction. If the lower abdominal muscle is deficient in its action to stabilize the tilt the pelvis the hamstring compensates by working harder.

In both of these situations rehabilitation and prevention should address the weak synergistic muscles. Recent work by Sherry (2004) supports this concept. He demonstrated the addition of core stabilization exercises to traditional stretching and strengthening exercises are more effective than just traditional and strengthening exercises for hamstring strain.

P.S. Really have no idea when or what caused the micro-tear! Disheartening news with 2+ months to Nagano Marathon -- well, I juz have to take a break from running and pursue my other sporting interests for the time being...