Hamstring Avulsion (complete tear from pelvis)

[terrirobo]

my leg hurt the most when i was drving for over 60 minutes or so. they told me that was because i was sitting on the area that was injured and that i was using my hamstring driving. you have a tough decision. especially if it bothers you when you have to work and stay at your desk for a good amount of the time.what are the chances of the hamstring completely tearing more off the bone if not repaired? since it is weak can this happen? i actually fell 2 days before surgery because my leg gave out and reinjured it again doing a split. that was 4 months after i had initially injured it.so the leg is weak and i did not even realize it. i did see some people who had surgery years later and had good results, but keep researching the more info you have the better you will feel about your decision. Good Luck again, take care..terri

[terrirobo]

I don't know how bad his was. All he told me was that he tore it off the bone

[cmg8878]

Hi All,
It's been awhile since I've posted. I had surgery on December 21, 2011 for a full hamstring avulsion and am currently 3 1/2 months post surgery. I had a young Stanford surgeon who absolutely does not believe in the brace! I was on crutches for 2 weeks and started pt at 1 1/2 weeks post surgery. I started lightly jogging on the treadmill at 8 weeks. I have been very dedicated to pt and most days when I'm not in pt I'm in the gym doing pt exercises along with my regular workout. My surgery leg strength is now 95 % of my other leg. I can play tennis and run in the hills for 45 minutes. I strongly believe that I am where I am in my recovery because I was not put in the brace. My PT and surgeon say it would've weakened my leg and my recovery would have been very slow. The brace is old school thinking and I am proof that it is unnecessary. I feel close to 100 % and I feel fortunate that I was able to begin strengthening my leg very early on. I was in decent shape before the accident which I know helped but being dedicated to pt is also a big reason. I wish all of you a great recovery.

How are you feeling now? I have heard that it can feel like you are "sitting on a rock", bc of the screws and scar tissue after surgery. I am wondering if that happens with most people and if it always feels like that? Anyone?

[Nikke]

Hi,

I am 39 year old male and I tore my hamstring playing soccer on tuesday 19th of June. It took couple of days to realise that the injury was severe since I could walk out of field and I had no swelling nor bruise in my posterior thigh until friday 22nd. On saturday the amount of bruise told that the injury was more than just a strain or minor rupture. So I booked time to orthopedist and visited him on monday 25th. Went to MRI on wednesday 27th and got the judgement on thursday 28th.

One of three hamstring is totally ruptured and the muscle has retractedm so basically the situation is quite similiar with cmg8878. Since the other two hamstrings are fine I have still both options available a) surgery b) conservative treatment. When browsing in internet I found lot of information about surgery option (both medical/academical and patient stories) but could not find information about result in conservative (physiotherapy and muscle maintenance) treatment.

I have understood that risk of new hamstring injury is increased in both options and with surgery I could still do all the sports that I have done previously palying ice hockey as a goalie, palying soccer, doing hiking and slalom. All this just for fun ie. non-competitive hobbies). However the recovery phase will be rather long 3-6 months. Since surgery is always a risk a am also intrested about the conservative option, especially after I red the inspiring interview of Michael Owen (soccer player of Mancehster United). The interview can be found from here. Owens tells that "I’ve got no hamstring in the middle. I’m basically running on two hamstrings on my right leg and three on the other."

To all you reading this forum, I think that you might find this article about the surgical treatment of hamstring injuries interesting. This study was supervised by professor Sakari Orava, one of leading orthopedist in Finland or even the whole world. He has operated Haile Gepreselassie, Merlyn Ottey and David Beckham (to mention few of his famous customers/patients).

Anyway, any information or own experiences of how to cope with two hamstring is highly appreciated since it obviously is not a easy decision to make, wether or not go to operation.

Thanks in advance,
Nikke

[Nikke]

First of all sorry, if there will be a dubilicate patient stroy from me. I wrote a message to this thread several days ago, but it looks like that message dissapeared in virtual space.

Tore my hamsting playing soccer tuesday on 19th of June. Did not realise the severity of the injury immediately, I could walk out of field and drive myself home. On friday I noticed some bruising in posterior thigh. On saturday the colour and amount of bruising indicated that there was more than strain or grade one rupture in the rear thigh. I booked time to orthopedist for monday and he send me to MRI.

MRI was on tuesday and finally today I got my hands on the actual statement from MRI doctor: "Semimembranosus tendon totalu ruptured and the muscle retracted 10cm from insertion. The remain of the tendon 2 cm visible in tuber ossis ischis. Bloody swelling in muscle. Other muscles of the thigh are ok."

First orthopedist was wondering weather to operate or not, but is now in favour of surgery. Basically one could live active life with only two hamstring muscle, but would it have negative impacts later in life when the muscle strenght is reduced? Going to get a second opinion on thursday from professor, orthopedist Sakari Orava one of the leading sport orthopedist of the world. Sakari in wikipedia and [url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aL6Thq0SAuxQ9an article about him[/url].

In case I'll choose surgery as a treatment (as it now seems) I hope professor Orava has time to perform the operation. But I'll learn more about that on thursday.

Any information about the option number two (no surgical threatment, just let the muscle retract to lower thigh and try to cope with remaining two hamstring and keep them in good shape) is highly appreciated. Plenty of articles and patient stories available in internet about the surgery option but basically no information available for no-surgery in single tendon avulsion/total rupture injury -option.

Thanks in advance. This thread has been best source of information and peer support when it comes to severe hamstring injuries.

Nikke

[bublik]

How are you feeling now? I have heard that it can feel like you are "sitting on a rock", bc of the screws and scar tissue after surgery. I am wondering if that happens with most people and if it always feels like that? Anyone?

I am almost 7wks out (1st post) and can feel the ischial pain w/certain activities. I don't feel like I'm sitting on a rock but certain things (recumbent bike/driving) irritate more than others. I'm on the recumbent bike b/c it's what I'm allowed to do right now for rehab outside of PT. Part of my PT is ultrasound therapy, ASTYM (scar/soft tissue massage), and stimulation (TENS unit type thing). I'm game to try anything right now to propel me to a better state of post-op healing. I'm also back to work in the OR and on my feet all day w/o major pain...sore by the end of the day but I feel SO GREAT to be fixed and back to more normalcy.

I'm 32yrs young and have healed faster than my doc expected as far as pain, activity tolerance, gait, etc. I broke myself (complete avulsion) in a mud-type race (Spartan) and had surgery less than 2wks later. Basically my surgeon has me on a reasonably short leash, ie every time he sees me in the OR he tells me to 'take care of that leg'. I work at the hospital I had surgery in, and we have a phenomenal sports medicine program, so after describing it to surgeon and MRI = surgery.

The initial 2wks were the hardest for me b/c I was laid up and bummed about not being able to drive or participate in my normal sanity activities (yoga, running, weights, biking, hiking, etc). Right around 2nd week I turned a corner and resolved myself to healing my body properly and enjoying the time to learn a different side of me. I felt really good early on and my pain tolerance is high so I wanted to be active but for ONCE in my life had learned some patience to let my body heal.

Anyway, back to your question - I feel great and have to remind myself to slow down b/c I DO NOT want to reinjure and be nekkid, face down in front of my coworkers again...especially if I ruin a great repair.

My main discomfort at this point is driving long distances, and I love a roadtrip, but it's not nearly as uncomfortable as I was prior to surgery. Driving was probably the worst for me after the injury. I could feel myself sitting on my hamstrings (right leg) and it was bothersome. Recumbent bike irritates my ischium after 30min or so but I just continue and feel better every day!

Good luck!

[terrirobo]

what kind of brace are you talking about? i was put in a brace that only locked my movement for sitting. i could move my knee bend it and walk with 50% weight bearing with crutches after 8days post-op. this worked well for me and allowed me to not re-injure the torn part of the hamstring and allow enough time for scar tissue to adhere and to heal.

[bublik]

My surgeon rigged up a sling w/our orthotic department. Basically it looks like a weight belt (velcro around my waist) w/a long dog leash sewed to the back that attached to an ankle wrap. I had full flexion and lots of mobility. By the 2nd week I was totally able to be foot flat w/minimal weight bearing. I had to remind myself to be careful when I was out and about on crutches. The intent was that I could straighten my leg and just protect it from driving, physical activity, weight bearing, etc.

[terrirobo]

impressive! They have a new brace now that does kind of the same thing. It immobilized me from the hip so that i did not sit down but also gave me the freedom to move my knee and walk around when i could. it has a steel bar going down the side of the hip but very light weight and velcro tabs, it did the job ,i was surprised. I went to the New England Baptisit hospital ,they are famous for their orthopedics and thats where all of our top sports players go, they had some amazing tools they gave me to use when i came home. i had a special bed rail that you put in between your matress and it was great to help me out of bed. also they gave me a special toilet seat that went on top of toilet that had one side that was lower so you only has to bend a little and did not sit on bad side,they also had these extended tongs that were use to help me wipe myself(i know grosse but let me tell you without them i could not bend and it gave me the freedom to be able to go by myself) also they gave me the grabber so i could put my socks on and pick up things without bending, some wonderful tools they had for helping out after surgery!. I just graduated to a cane and i am 4 weeks out, like i said before the surgeon is extremely conservative and i am 46 and overweight so that is a good thing she is conservative. 4 weeks in brace then gradual 2 weeks off crutches and i started PT after 4 weeks out. I did have in home PT but they did not do much only simple things to keep the leg from getting stiff. I am glad your feeling well. i have 10 weeks of PT ahead of me so i will let you know how it goes. Dr. Suzzane Miller at the Baptsist was my Dr. and she has done over 40 plus surgerys on torn hamstrings alone she was the only one in Boston area that had that kind of experience she is also doing a study and paper on this topic, she has done other research as well. she is known for her repairs on torn ligaments and tendons and such. keep healthy and good luck!!

[Kayrazyy]

I had a brace made for me as well. I had same brace used for ACL inguiries on my leg and a back brace attached up high to hold up my hamstring. I wish my recovery could be faster they had my knee locked at 90 degrees and moved it down 15 degrees ever week. I am now at 6 weeks since operation and got rid of the back brace but have to get the leg brace on locked straight and can just now put toe touch pressure on it it seems like a little to much. I can barely straighten my leg and it's attropied alot. It's scary and I'm nervous to begin asking they won't let me get the brace off until I can walk which is making it hard. Did your leg get alot smaller to?