How would you rehab from an injured glute?

[msingh]

Any there any particular stretches or exercises that can be done?

[Mr.City]

Squeeze it

[Scrofula]

Depending on the injury, perhaps the Starr rehab protocol? Exrx has some ideas for glute exercises:
http://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/HipsWt.html#anchor169231

[msingh]

I'm not sure starr rehab is appropriate since i've had this problem for a long time now (around june last year). To give more info, even walking around can be difficult and awkard at times. if i lie on the ground and try to raise my left leg up it will get progressively tender and unbearable. Squatting seems to have made it feel better but I know once it gets heavy it will have the opposite effect.

[mstrofbass]

I'm not sure starr rehab is appropriate since i've had this problem for a long time now (around june last year). To give more info, even walking around can be difficult and awkard at times. if i lie on the ground and try to raise my left leg up it will get progressively tender and unbearable. Squatting seems to have made it feel better but I know once it gets heavy it will have the opposite effect.

So...knowing that squatting helps it feel better, and seeing what the Starr rehab model entails...why would you presume it to be inappropriate?

[msingh]

I think you're suggesting doing starr rehab with squats. That's crazy enough to work. Also i think i need to invest in a glute/ham bench thing. SS without back extensions is probably a bad thing, I should have coughed up for one ages ago.

what do you guys thing of this http://myfitnesshut.blogspot.com/2007/12/flexibility-article-series-part-3.html

The reason i never bothered with starr rehab was because I asked rip about it and he said just keep training through it

[misspelledgeoff]

How on earth did you injure a glute?

[msingh]

I originally injured it squatting (and maybe deadlifting) with bad form with too large jumps. Then it got better, or at least it didnt seem to bother me. But the way i fucked it up recently towards the end of last year was playing basketball at my bodyweight of 111kg, which I had no business doing. That aggravated the shit out of it and i've had a problem with it since then.

[Mr.City]

Man, basketball continues to beat the shit out of you.

[msingh]

I know! I pay for it the next day when I can barely get out of bed because of how sore my glute is, and that's one thing, but it leads to a whole host of lowerback problems which I only recently realised is probably related to the injured glute. So i'm keen to sort out the injury and make it much stronger. Thing is looking at the prices for a GHR, it's outside my budget. Gah.

[Scrofula]

http://www.kvusa.com/wl/floorghr.htm

[mstrofbass]

http://www.kvusa.com/wl/floorghr.htm

I hate people that give advice like "When you can no longer control the negative, get your hands out to keep you from falling flat on your face." They're so selfish. They should think of everyone else instead, all the people that could see the end result of that.

[msingh]

Guys, some very interesting material on training glutes at http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/dispelling_the_glute_myth

yes i know it's t-nation

[Mr.City]

Guys, some very interesting material on training glutes at http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/dispelling_the_glute_myth

yes i know it's t-nation

http://www.tmuscle.com/img/photos/2009/09-154-training/BodyweightFireHydrant.jpg

Msingh finally assumes the position.

[msingh]

Form check please?

[TomC]

Find yourself a lacrosse ball, position it where it hurts the most, and lay on it. It's a cheap way of approximating deep tissue massage. Foam rolling may be of use, too. Prepare for pain.

[msingh]

Ok my strategy looks like:

+ do a normal SS session then

+ glute specific work
2x10 hip thrusts (bodyweight)
2x10 glute bridges
2x10 bird-dogs
2x10 glute kickbacks
2x20 squats (light)

and the next day i'll do the lacrosse ball massage as suggested by TomC as well as foam rolling.

thoughts?

[Mr.City]

For a second, I thought this was in Ends and Piece.

[msingh]

ha, why? :( Maybe i should do high rep deadlifts instead of squats, because according to the guy on T nation they activate some 55% of glutage.

[Mr.City]

How much rehab work does your ass need?

[msingh]

lol .. well i have to hit it from all the angles, keep it guessing and all of that. actually i have no idea how much volume is right for this sort of thing

[gzt]

Wait - what sort of glute injury is this? Muscle belly tear? Some sort of unexplained pain in your ass? How do you know?

[msingh]

Wait - what sort of glute injury is this? Muscle belly tear? Some sort of unexplained pain in your ass? How do you know?

My left arse cheek. Shall i try to get a professional diagnosis?

[coreJack]

Why not just temporarily lay off the heavy squats and deads, and just do light squats and deads using the Starr protocol, along with some SMR using a tennis/lacrosse ball and see if that solves the problem?

I agree that your low back issues are probably related to your glute injury, which is another factor that militates against heavy squats/deads until your glutes are functioning normally again.

[msingh]

I wont be hitting heavy weights on the squat and deadlift for 3 weeks (ie 5RM range), from now. I failed at 90kg and only managed 2 reps, then got 2 hard sets at 5x85kg, and only 4 reps at 82.5kg on the third set, so i'll be working up the linear progression anyway. Is that ok? In the meantime i'll do all the rehab work suggested. The floor i squat on is not perfectly level, it slopes down, not a great deal, maybe about 5 degrees. I wonder if this might have contributed to the injury.

[coreJack]

so i'll be working up the linear progression anyway. Is that ok?
It's your ass. Do what you want.

If it were me, I'd do the rehab protocol as written. If Starr found that it worked best while the trainee was also on a linear progression (even if at submaximal weights), he would have written it that way.

[misspelledgeoff]

El O muthrfukin L! You do realize who you gave this advice too?


Why not just temporarily lay off the heavy squats and deads, and just do light squats and deads using the Starr protocol, along with some SMR using a tennis/lacrosse ball and see if that solves the problem?

I agree that your low back issues are probably related to your glute injury, which is another factor that militates against heavy squats/deads until your glutes are functioning normally again.

[msingh]

Unless i'm missing something isnt the starr rehab a kind of linear progression with submaximal weights anyway?

[coreJack]

El O muthrfukin L! You do realize who you gave this advice too?
Yeah, I know, but if he doesn't rehab this properly, it's going to give him trouble when the weights get heavy, so may as well do it now, while he's cutting.

[msingh]

Groff is just skeptical and cynical thinking i'm not interested in getting stronger and lifting heavy. He's wrong about this but I can understand why think he thinks that. I'm happy to prove him wrong though. Anyway back to the topic.

So let's say today I squat 3x25 at 50kg (might that be too much? shall I start with the bar?). Should I deadlift 3x25 60 kg? Or just one of these two? I guess i can try both and find which one "hurts" -- hey it could could be that neither of these hurt, in which case I might try something else, like the exercises from the glute guy.

[misspelledgeoff]

coreJack, if the weights haven't gotten heavy since July 2008 (when he started SS) then they aren't going to get heavy.


Yeah, I know, but if he doesn't rehab this properly, it's going to give him trouble when the weights get heavy, so may as well do it now, while he's cutting.

[msingh]

July 2009 you mean? That's when I injured it. But I've lifted heavier than that over september and october before stopping in november due to getting obese (46 inch waist).

[misspelledgeoff]

Your posts indicate you started SS in summer of 2008.

http://www.startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=8641




July 2009 you mean? That's when I injured it. But I've lifted heavier than that over september and october before stopping in november due to getting obese (46 inch waist).

[msingh]

I've had numerous attempts at doing SS, that was my original one, yup.

[Mr.City]

Numerous attempts? Hmmm...

[msingh]

Suppose could have been worse. I might have been doing bb stuff for years like many people who come here? I've talked about all of this on my log already though if you're interested.

[Chewie_jrc]

[double post]

[Chewie_jrc]

july 2009 you mean? That's when i injured it. But i've lifted heavier than that over september and october before stopping in november due to getting obese (46 inch waist).



i've had numerous attempts at doing ss, that was my original one, yup.

fail!

[msingh]

Wait here, i'll go find a rip witticism to recycle like the rest of you cool kids

[Mr.City]

So what are you doing for your ass now and how has it remained injured for this long? I'm not experienced with injuries, so take what I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but it sounds like you have scar issue in your ass. It might be time to get a PT to break up the scar issue.

[gzt]

My left arse cheek. Shall i try to get a professional diagnosis?
That's a location. A vague location. Not an answer to my question.

[msingh]

How can I answer your question? Give me a way to pinpoint it please

[mstrofbass]

How can I answer your question? Give me a way to pinpoint it please

Take off your pants. Find a sharpie marker (or you can do this first). Circle the part of your ass that hurts, preferably with an arrow that points to it and says "Here". Take a picture. Upload it to the web. Post it here.


Or you could just find a picture of a person's backside on the interwebs and use MS Paint to circle the proper area

[blowdpanis]

Take off your pants. Find a sharpie marker (or you can do this first). Circle the part of your ass that hurts, preferably with an arrow that points to it and says "Here". Take a picture. Upload it to the web. Post it here.


Or you could just find a picture of a person's backside on the interwebs and use MS Paint to circle the proper area

Yes.

For example, what msing may be calling his glute could be his hamstrings' origin on the ischial tuberosity, and not the glutes at all.

[gzt]

And part of my question was about how he knew it was a tear or something - whether there was any bruising etc.

[Bergie]

And part of my question was about how he knew it was a tear or something - whether there was any bruising etc.

OP says this "injury" is about a year old.

[msingh]

http://i42.tinypic.com/2nurjx5.jpg

I've been on ibuprofen for about 2 weeks and it makes a huge difference but that's not a long term solution. I was taking 3x2 a day, and went through a pack of 12 and 48 respectively. I'm out now, and tempted to get more but not sure what the point is. I guess the idea is to reduce inflammation but why hasn't that happened already? Am i possibly doing something to keep inflaming it?

To answer some questions, no there isn't any bruising. When it's particularly bad it affects hamstrings as well as the area above the hips on that side.

Any advice appreciated.

[Webbie]

If it's been a year, you probably have scar tissue. Vigorous MyoFascial is an approach. I had hamstrings that I tweaked everytime I tried to play football with my son so I decided to go start getting treatment 3 weeks ago. Night and day difference. I found that I had trigger points in my gluteus medius (both sides) that I didn't even know were there.

[msingh]

If it's been a year, you probably have scar tissue. Vigorous MyoFascial is an approach. I had hamstrings that I tweaked everytime I tried to play football with my son so I decided to go start getting treatment 3 weeks ago. Night and day difference. I found that I had trigger points in my gluteus medius (both sides) that I didn't even know were there.

Thank you. I'm going to have to seek treatment because I dont want to keep taking ibuprofen for this. Is there a way to diagnose if it is indeed scar tissue? Shall I ask for a scan when i see a doc?

i tried the foam rolling thing and sitting on a ball, and cant say it made much of a difference, only ibuprofen did, does, but i'm concerned about taking it for as long as I have.

The pic i put up seems to have disapeared :/

[Webbie]

I went the foam roller/softball route too. It's great for quads, IT Bands, erectors, and calves but you can't really get at the hams and glutes.

Once the scar tissue is there, no amount of Ibuprofen will make it go away. You have to tear it back apart to make it heal correctly. Go get a Myo session and you'll know if you have scar tissue that needs to be broken because you'll feel the pain when they work that spot. I felt bruised for three days in the spots where I had scar tissue. It is a character builder is what I've been telling myself...because it really hurts! I have another session scheduled for Friday.

[zepled37]

maybe try GOMAD and take a month off of training. just roll around on the lacrosse ball every day for a month while drinking your milk. then after a month, try SS again. probably have to start pretty light

[Mr.City]

Squeeze it

I still like my advice. But really, guys, he's going to have to get a doctor to destroy his ass. Take mercy on him.

[zepled37]

I still like my advice. But really, guys, he's going to have to get a doctor to destroy his ass. Take mercy on him.

You are correct, an enema or colonoscopy maybe be in order.

[msingh]

Saw the doc, he says i tore my hamstring and now have scar tissue buildup. asked him how to break it up and he said it doesnt work like that, you're stuck with it. fucking depressing. told me to go see a physiotherapist for 'exercises' to strength my hamstring. the idea of paying someone to tell me what isolation exercises to do for rehab what i could google in seconds is not so thrilling.

i could ask rippetoe but im guessing he'll tell me to train through it, like last time. sigh. i just want to heal this thing and get on with my life.

doc did say its ok to take ibuprofen for upto 6 months.

that was a bit humiliating :(

[msingh]

annoyingly if i had done starr rehab i wouldnt have got scar tissue problems. i even asked mark if i should do it too and he said just keep squatting :( FML.

[Mr.City]

...and so it begins again

[msingh]

Mr city, shouldnt be eating to get 70s big? Put down the keyboard and pick up a cheeseburger now, you aint gonna be 270lb with that attitude.

[Mr.City]

I don't understand how you're blaming Rip for your scar tissue by following the rehab. Furthermore, the doctor is telling you something similar to Rip; you got to exercise the area to help it recover. What exactly does my desire to gain muscular body weigh have to do with your failure to follow rehab protocol?

[msingh]

LOL! starr rehab is appropriate for rehab on an injured muscle belly (which i had), but because I didn't run starr rehab then, i'm fucked now because of scar tissue which would have been avoided had I had done the necessary rehab work. I always thought that 'just squat and dont be a pussy' advice was a bit stupid. oh well, doesnt matter, just another way rippetoe has made my life more interesting :)

[Mr.City]

You obviously don't squat at your work set weigh when you're injured, however you can use the movement with light weigh and high reps to repair. I'm curious as to why the doctor says the scar tissue can't be broken up. It's method that's worked for plenty of posters here.

[msingh]

I guess that's what he was taught in school. Maybe the body of knowledge in the medical community has got that wrong, or more likely the posters on this site have, who knows.

Scar tissue in an injured hamstring. what's the way to deal with it?

[Mr.City]

Are you using the term doctor generally? The PT might say different.

[Platus]

Scar tissue in an injured hamstring. what's the way to deal with it?It depends on the severity of the injury. If it was just a muscle belly injury, then I believe the answer is ART or some other form of excruciatingly painful but ultimately beneficial massage.

[msingh]

In world of google that's a terrible acronym. what does ART stand for?

[Webbie]

ART= Active Release Technique