This is the third time I have had it. The first time, it lasted a few months, and then I got a major injury, needed surgery, took several months off, and everything reset.
The second time, I went to PT for 2 months, but the pain lingered for around 10 months, and then it eventually resolved.
In my current situation, it started up around 6 weeks ago. It was after 2 long drives, and lots of hard running and biking. I took 3 weeks off running, but that didn’t help.
Also, I’m assuming this is hamstring tendinopathy. I have pain deep in the buttock, which I assume is the hamstring tendon. It hurts when I run. I have discomfort when I bike. It causes me to run incorrectly, so get sore all over the hamstring, quad, IT band, and even the bottom of my foot. If I run for longer than an hour, I’ll get some pins and needles. Sometimes, it is tender if I press on it. The day after a run, it might be fine in the morning, but then everything stiffens up throughout the day.
The advice I have found online has been:
-No deep static stretching
-Don’t stop running, but reduce load
-Bridges (hold for 1min)
-Single-leg deadlifts
It also seems like this injury is some kind of giant mystery to medical science. I don’t understand why it’s not the same as a simple sprain.
Have had same for a few years now. I don’t run at all now and I especially don’t ‘take off’ and sprint across a road for a bus or similar movements.
Mine was so trivial that it didn’t affect the bike at all for a year. Then the bike pissed it off and for last couple of years it’s been on and off.
I can only say what I have found has actually helped me:
no hamstring stretches (as you’ve noted, but that is a thing in physio world, not stretching out a pulled/torn/hacked off hamstring. I’ve had one v experienced and v flexible yoga person tell me that and three separate osteopaths and physios
Gym - when I got to the gym just once a week for a few weeks everything gets a bit better including the insertion point discomfort. Sometimes it component in the gym as well and I back off immediately. Then go to next exercise. gym things: I do single leg split squats with a foot on a bench being especially focussed on the slow descent down. That’s the action that encourages rebuild. Go no further down as soon as you get any pain though and if proper pain don’t do them. hamstring curls I do these for the eccentric load when releasing back up (rather than the curl itself). You might find the curl can irritate it in which case give that bit a helping hand and then let the release do the rebuild. I do these are single leg and to begin with used very light loading and used. It’s legs to ‘curl’ and then one leg only to release back down.
I also do hip hinges and bridges as part of Abi’s yoga stuff and if I’ll Be working hard (and by that I mean AC or NM workouts I’ll use Abis warmup to make sure I’m not going hard without activating things first
I personally ( my hip flexors are a joke ) don’t find bridges that great what is better is a an exercise ball and you just get your feet up on that and drag the ball back and forth
All of the above is just my own experience and following up what some professionals have suggested to me and makes me feel better if I consistently avoid annoying the hamstring while doing that stuff every week
Hope you see some relief soon and get back to doing everything you want
Ps also now avoid long journeys unless I just have to. Driving I think is bad for me. Shortening hip flexors is not what I need (and that reminds me - do you have tighter hip flexors? Because I do and I think they are causing my hamstrings to lengthen and be permanently in tension)
I experienced similar over the past year and change and several doctor appointments (GP, Airrosti, orthopedic doc, and more!) before receiving a CTSCAN and then being hospitalized for surgery; turns out I had fibroadipose. Since the surgery, everything is fixed & better. Now I just need to rebuild endurance.
Hope your resolution isn’t near as severe and that you’re on the rebound quickly.
sorry to hear about your problems, I have experienced similar high hamstring pain like you describe.
I suspect my proximal hamstring tendinopathy (PHT) was caused by sitting on a hard chair in my home office and an incorrectly fitting bicycle saddle ( Specialized Power 155) . It first flared up summer 2024, it has been so bad that sitting on any surface was painful. I was unable to ride a bicycle for 18 months, strangely I’ve been able to continue running the whole time.
Physios have told me that tendinopathies need to be loaded to rehabilitate and make the structural changes in the tendon required to function without pain. Every medical professional I’ve seen has reiterated that the worst thing to do with a tendinopathy is rest.
Things that have reduced the pain and enabled me to be more active.
The exercises given to me by the NHS Physio at my local GP practice.
Heavy weights, I started in the gym later summer 2025, focusing on machines that load the tendon, in my case leg press and hamstring curls in the 5 rep range. Doing 3 sets twice a week.
My NHS GP referred me to the spinal clinic at our nearest hospital on the basis that the pain is in my pelvic area and the waiting list was much shorter than at other departments. My appointment came through within a few months and the Doctor I saw confirmed the PHT diagnosis and was referred to the physio clinic for a 4 week programme of ESWT ( extra corporeal shockwave therapy). that was in Jan-Feb earlier this year, soreness increased immediately after the sessions and settled down after 2-3 days. After the last session the pain was as bad as it had been but it must have been what my hamstring needed because 3 months later I was back to my pre 2024 activity levels and have no recurrence.