Injured while stretching

**Demon Eyes** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 10:20am

One night I was going through my daily strecthing excercises. One being the front splits. So, as I was doing the front splits with my left leg as the lead, there was a loud and resounding pop from my hamstring. The pain was actually pretty dull. I was able to continue the stretch for the night.
However, if I try to perform that same stretch, the dull pain returns (Keep in mind the injury occured within the first 3 days of Janurary.). I've stopped using the front split with my left leg as the lead, and just concentrated on my right as the lead.
I can feel the dull pain whenever I do:
Front stretch with my left leg as lead.
Cheerleader kicks with the left.
Any variation of the round kick or spinning back kicks with the right leg, aimed towards the head.
Side splits.

Any other excercise or basic functions (walking, crouching, etc.), I don't feel the pain.
The pain itself isn't serious. It'll go away with just a few seconds of rest. So, I don't believe it would require any medical attention. If anything, it may just be a grade 1 pulled hamstring.

So, I was wondering what I could do to speed up the healing process a bit besides the good ol' "let it rest for a while." A month seems rather long to me. Any suggestions?

**thorthe power** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 11:36am

Heat before streaching/only streach lightly...maybe take an Ibroprophen also. Then ice after your workout.

I'm by know means an expoert, but this has helped me continue to train through injuries.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 11:49am

Hamstrings take forever to heal.

IMHO static stretching is a waste of time and according to some trainers weakens the body and increases injuries... let me search for a second...

Originally Posted by fug

To continue what TaeBo_Master wrote... The only dif I've found is what my PT told me, that six or eight seconds held on static stretches does maximum benefits. The old advice, at least 30 seconds, minutes are better, seems to be not supported by research.

To repeat earlier advice, the "journal of the American College of Sports Medicine: "The findings of the present study clearly indicate that a typical pre-exercise stretching protocol does not produce a clinically useful reduction in injury risk."

In other words, the study says stretching before exercise is a waste of time. People took note because the study involved 1538 Australian Army recruits in basic training, a large number of men doing strenuous exercise."
http://www.runwithsam.com/articlestretching.htm

http://www.stadion.com/column_stretch16.html and http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=17 are the same, but who knows what will remain online. Kurz has been cited by Edge and others for some time on site and his stuff (IMHO) is real good.

I really like "examples of good and bad martial arts workouts," number 16. I'm afraid I seem to be often in the bad example group.

There... I hardly stretch anymore and I kick > 6' cold. What I do is kick the bag. If you do stretch do it after class.

**Demon Eyes** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 12:27pm

Those seem like very helpful suggestions. Thank you very much.

**Little Lamb** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 9:30pm

There's a really good thread on stretching around here somewhere. I'm not the best with the search function, but I bet you could find it. It might even be a sticky.

But I mostly agree with FUG about static stretching. I only do serious static stretching when my muscles are warm and mostly for muscles that are clearly not flexible enough to do easily the techniques I want to be able to do. Well, that's not exactly true. I do some light static stretching of most muscle groups after workout because, in my experience, it seems to make me less sore the next day.

**Demon Eyes** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 10:04pm

I usually do some dynamic stretching before moving on to the static. Mostly to just get the joints ready and the muscles. Although from now on, I think I'll save the splits and other static stretches of the legs after I do my squats, burpees, etc.

I'll definetly look for the thread. Thanks for the heads up.

Also, big thanks to thorthe power. I took a heating pad to the hamstring before doing my stretches, and I barely felt the dull pain that's been keeping me from my workouts. Thanks again.

**patfromlogan** · Posted On: 2/04/2009 10:06pm

Originally Posted by Little Lamb

There's a really good thread on stretching around here somewhere. I'm not the best with the search function, but I bet you could find it. It might even be a sticky.

But I mostly agree with FUG about static stretching. I only do serious static stretching when my muscles are warm and mostly for muscles that are clearly not flexible enough to do easily the techniques I want to be able to do. Well, that's not exactly true. I do some light static stretching of most muscle groups after workout because, in my experience, it seems to make me less sore the next day.

Warm downs are the most neglected part of a workout.

**thorthe power** · Posted On: 2/05/2009 7:01am

Glad it worked Demon....I've also recently discovered the joys of epsome salt baths, they seem to help also.

**Moonlit Tiger** · Posted On: 2/24/2009 8:07am

Originally Posted by fug

Hamstrings take forever to heal.

IMHO static stretching is a waste of time and according to some trainers weakens the body and increases injuries... let me search for a second...

There... I hardly stretch anymore and I kick > 6' cold. What I do is kick the bag. If you do stretch do it after class.

The research you cite here is only pertaining to stretching before workouts. It was the old accepted standard that stretching pre-workout was necessary to prevent injury; but recent research, like the study you referenced, has found that a dynamic warm up is all that is necessary to prevent injury and ensure proper cardiovascular response to exercise. In fact, I believe some studies have shown that too much static stretching prior to activity actually decreases force-production capacity.

But static stretching following activity or as part of an independent flexibility training session is still highly encouraged. Currently there are no established guildelines as to how long stretches should be held, as research in that area is somewhat lacking, but the general accepted range is around 30 seconds.

Keeping with the thread topic, if you injured yourself doing a stretch, chances are you might have put it on a bit too quickly or too far. I would avoid activities that aggrevate it, but if you must, thorthe power's post is a pretty standard course of action to follow. If the pain persists, or grows worse, you should definately see a doctor.

Laziness, or pride, or whatever seems to keep people from seeing the doctor about their injuries. To me, this seems like a silly thing to endanger your martial arts career for.

**Mtripp** · Posted On: 2/24/2009 9:30am

I am old, so if books are not in print forgive me.

The book "Zen Shaloin (sp?) Karate" is excellent for many reasons. None more than its research about the truth behind kata. He deals with this subject in there as well, and it is an interesting read.