There are 4 stages for recovering from a hamstring injury: Rest, align the fibers, strengthen and stretch.
Stage 1 – Rest
This is often the hardest thing for a yogi. Don’t do anything. It needs to heal. For at least the first 72 hours (3 days) and up to 2 weeks, depending on the severity of the injury, let it rest. You can wrap an ace bandage around the top of your thigh. And ice is very helpful to reduce inflammation. Apply ice for 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off as frequently as you can in the first days.
For the second week, go about your daily activities, but don’t try stretching your hamstring. It may hurt to walk, so don’t walk more than you need to. It may hurt to sit on a toilet. That is a real sign that you still need to let it rest.
Rules of Thumb
Assign the pain of your injury a number from 1 to 10 where 1 is the least amount of pain and 10 is the most pain.
Don’t start trying to rehab your leg until the pain is 5 or less.
When you work your leg, the pain should not go up more than one point. If it does, you may be over doing it. When you stop working out the number should be where it was when you started. If it is worse, you may have just set yourself back. Also, you won’t really know if you suffered a setback until you wake up the next day. If the pain is worse the next day, you over did it. If you keep irritating the hamstring, it will take FOREVER to heal. Don’t be impatient. Don’t worry about losing the progress that you had already made. If you heal your hamstring properly, you will be back to where you were within a couple of months. (As opposed to over a year!)
You will only know that you overdid it in hindsight. So - DO NOT OVERDO IT!
Stage 2 – Align the fibers
Usually when you strain your hamstring, it is not the muscle that is injured, it is usually the tendon. Both the muscle and the tendon have fibers that run in one direction. However, scar tissue forms in a crisscross pattern. This makes the tendon tighter and less elastic.
To start to lay down healing fibers in the same direction that the muscle and tendon fibers are already running, you need to start applying gentle pressure to the area in the form of strengthening the muscle.
After about two to four weeks (it depends on the severity of your injury), you can begin strengthening exercises. Start gently and progress conservatively. Hamstrings can heal relatively quickly or take forever if you keep overdoing it. The first exercise is just to lie on your back and press the heel of the injured leg into the floor. Hold it for a count of 10 and then rest. Try three sets. If it is too painful, don’t bull through it. Either wait and try again another day, or, place a flat block higher up under your leg and try it again. If you put the block under your calf, you may be able to apply pressure more easily.
Stage 3 – Strengthen
You want to strengthen the muscle before you try to stretch it. An injured muscle is thin, weak and tenuous. You want to get it stronger, first.
Once you can apply pressure on the heel, you may start practicing more vigorously. Try putting more height under the heel. Use a block or two. If this feels fine, you can start practicing other backbends. Try Locust, or a low Cobra. Backbends are your friend at this stage of healing. You can do any backbend once your pain has lessened, your leg feels strong enough and it doesn’t hurt. But work progressively, try Bridge, Bow or Camel before you try Wheel.
Stage 4 – Stretch
Once you can strengthen your hamstring without any discomfort, you can begin stretching it. This should happen after about 4 to 6 weeks after you injured your hamstring. Remember to take it easy and proceed cautiously. Modify by using blocks or other props to keep yourself from going too deep. In the beginning the tendency is to overstretch your hamstring because it will be feeling better. But, remember the rule of thumb for assigning a number to your pain. Your hamstring should not feel worse the next day. If it does, you overdid it.
Check out the video I made to accompany this article.
