Clinical Progression and Load Management For Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy In A Long-Distance Runner: A Case Report.
Cristina Campos-Villegas, Lucía Ortega-Pérez de Villar, Javier Gámez-Payá and 2 others
PMID 38707848WHAT IT FOUND
A runner with severe buttock pain from hamstring tendon injury reported pain dropping from 7/10 to 1/10 after 12 weeks of progressive loading exercises.
The plan increased difficulty only when daily pain stayed at 4/10 or less, moving from isometric holds to running.
Key findings
01Pain decreased from 7/10 to 1/10 and functional scores improved from 23 to 80 out of 100 over 12 weeks.
02Progression to higher-load exercises was contingent on daily pain staying at 4/10 or less on two consecutive days.
03Ultrasound imaging after six weeks showed the tendon thickness returned to the normal range.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This is a single case report, so the results cannot be generalized to other patients. The subject had prior treatments (manual therapy, dry needling, eccentric exercises) that did not work, making it difficult to isolate the effect of the new protocol from natural history or previous interventions. There was no control group or blinding. The authors note that the specific load test used (single leg arabesque) might have been too irritating for the tendon, suggesting a less provocative test might be better for monitoring.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest and received no specific funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this protocol will work for all runners with buttock pain. This is one person's experience; a single case report cannot prove that progressive loading is superior to other treatments, and the lack of a control group means we do not know if the improvement was due to the specific exercises or just the passage of time and reduced training load.