Stronger with Yoga: Hamstring Injury Rehab

By Jenni Tarma

Hamstring tendon injuries are common among runners, yogis and other athletes. The practical, science-based techniques in this book will help you rehab your injury safely and at your own pace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9780359126415

Book preview

Stronger with Yoga: Hamstring Injury Rehab

Stronger with Yoga: Hamstring Injury Rehab

Copyright ©2018 by Jenni Tarma

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2018

ISBN: 978-1-387-72920-3

www.strongerwithyoga.com

www.jennitarma.com

GOALS & APPROACH

Introduction

A couple of years ago, thanks to an unfortunate combination of determination, adrenaline, and a yoga pose that I now know my body will never, ever consent to, I gave myself an upper hamstring tendon injury. The two or three weeks immediately afterward were scary: I had nonstop pain of a variety I’d never experienced and therefore had no idea what to do with. It hurt to walk or to sit for any prolonged period of time, and exercise of any variety was out of the question.

Phase 1 of my rehab process consisted of 90 percent denial and 10 percent misplaced optimism. The symptoms did improve over time, but instead of fully going away, they came and went in waves of varying severity. The fluctuating nature of the injury allowed me both to relentlessly analyze and to ignore it at the same time; I tracked the symptoms daily but never knew what they meant or what I was supposed to do about them. Any improvement, no matter how small, convinced me that it was getting better, even though I still struggled with significantly reduced mobility and a constant, dull ache under my glute. One day, with the inflammation completely out of control after what should have been an easy and pleasant run with friends, I decided I needed to do something once and for all.

Phase 2 of rehab started with much online research—and with mostly depressing results. Almost everything I read said that the injury might go away by itself, although this was unlikely, or, if severe enough, would require surgery, with no guarantee of a successful outcome. Eventually I found resources that detailed a more active, less black-and-white approach. At the same time, my studies in yoga anatomy and biomechanics were helping me to understand how tissues behave under stress, whether it be excess stress that causes injury, or moderate stress that stimulates strengthening and healing.

This book is the result of months of experimentation, the outcome of which was a completely healed hamstring tendon and a gradual return to pain-free running and yoga. I’ve since then implemented these techniques on multiple private clients with the same injury, also successfully. Given how common, not to mention painful and debilitating, upper hamstring tendon injuries are in athletes of all varieties, I felt compelled to share what I feel is a very conservative and safe approach to dealing with this injury so that you can heal yourself quickly and avoid wasting time with needless trial and error.

Nothing contained in this book is magic, special, or even original. Bits and pieces of this information exist all over the internet, and for good reason: these techniques are based on human physiology and biomechanics, and many of them come from highly educated and reputable teachers and movement specialists (the Appendix details the various articles, trainings, webinars, podcasts, courses and workshops that helped me to crystallize my thoughts). However, when looking for resources with which to heal my own injury, I was surprised at the lack of a comprehensive guide to tackling this issue—hence this book. I’m by no means claiming to reinvent the wheel. In fact, almost everything here came from another resource, and what you’re about to read is the collation of that information, augmented by the insights of my own process of trial and error, and hopefully enhanced by my perspective as a yoga instructor, runner, movement nerd, anatomy enthusiast and all-round active person. Aside from compiling what is already known to be useful, tried and tested information, my goal is to also present it in a way that’s comprehensive, and accessible to any active person. While the focus here is loosely on yoga and running, the methods are applicable to any sport.

Why yoga?

Much of what’s contained in this book is not even close to what would be termed traditional yoga. And while yoga isn’t really a sport (amongst other things, it’s totally non-goal-oriented and lacks much of the traditional rules and competitive