Hamstring Pain from Stretching

Hey guys,

I started this program a few weeks ago and after the second time trying the middle split program, I had some hamstring pain. At first, it would only hurt from pancake stretching (so just on the inside of my hamstring) but since then it has spread towards the outside of my hamstring as well.  Now any type of stretching hurts so I have completely backed off from any type of leg exercise.

The part that confuses me is it doesn't hurt to flex my hamstring or walk/run. It only hurts to stretch it. Has this happened to anyone else? It is pretty painful to stretch so I am trying to avoid that but I don't know what I can do to help it besides just rest.

John,

56 minutes ago, John Chuma said:

Hey guys,

I started this program a few weeks ago and after the second time trying the middle split program, I had some hamstring pain. At first, it would only hurt from pancake stretching (so just on the inside of my hamstring) but since then it has spread towards the outside of my hamstring as well.  Now any type of stretching hurts so I have completely backed off from any type of leg exercise.

The part that confuses me is it doesn't hurt to flex my hamstring or walk/run. It only hurts to stretch it. Has this happened to anyone else? It is pretty painful to stretch so I am trying to avoid that but I don't know what I can do to help it besides just rest.

Hi John,

This is a sign that you have stretched your hamstrings much past what they were comfortable with. The best thing to do is to discontinue the middle split series until the pain subsides.

When you start back up, scale the intensity to what you can comfortably handle. And remember, you do not have to do the course till the end. It’s ok to stop shy until your stretch tolerance improves.

So if that’s all it is, do you think it’s ok to continue to run or something along the lines of that if it doesnt hurt? I was worried that I was risking hurting them pretty bad from something like this.

I think in your case, or at least with the athletes I coach, my golden rule is to do nothing that irritates the injury. Movement while you are injured (this is what that is), will only help to push nutrition and growth hormone into the injury to speed up healing if you can find something that does not irritate or exacerbate it. Running or jogging, in your case seems like it would be fine but if you find any extreme discomfort you will need to find a different movement/exercise.