Back of left leg is tense from split

Enigma Poledancer started this discussion · 7/15/2011

k so last friday i finally achieved my left leg split. well i performed it at work that night sucessfully two times. the third time i came down to hard and hurt the back of my left leg. Icy Hot, leg wraps, i even got a deep tissue massage monday. I stretched tonight for the first time since that happened and i can no longer do alot of the regular everyday stretches i was doing. my right split is closer now and i feel like i could go further in my left split even with the minor injury but i don't wanna risk hurting it more. Now i will give myself the benefit of the doubt cause it has been a whole week since i've last stretch I just need hope. What can i do to get my leg completely better so i can further my flexibility cause this is going to set me back. Any advice? has anyone else gone through this and if so, will my leg ever be back to normal? 🙁

15 replies

MsTaken · 7/15/2011
go see a sports med / physio / chiropractor / osteopath. You may have torn your hamstring, so you will need to be very, very gentle with it. I've seen a few of these from Burlesque performers who have done the splits with insufficient warm up, causing the hamstring to rip from the bone. Hope it heals quickly - it's not a nice injury.
Cherished · 7/15/2011
A few days ago I read this thread https://www.studioveena.com/blogs/view/Holy_Crap__Is_that_leg_mine_20110712075038 The poster wrote about a type of technique that helped her injury.
Enigma Poledancer · 7/15/2011
I did some research and turns out. I have a minor strain in my hamstring. Now that I know what im dealing with ill be on my way to full recovery thank u all for your feedback :)
Enigma Poledancer · 7/15/2011
At cherished that post was very touching but luckly my lil strain isnt that thank god cause wow that must of been very hard to go through. :/
Shellectra · 7/15/2011
I did the exact same thing trying to get my front splits (still trying!) and had a sore hamstring right up near my butt for months, I'd say 3 months, but now its totally pain free. It was my right leg and it was fine stretching it with that as my behind leg, so it taught me to go lower in the splits with my left leg forward (which is now my preferred way). The hamstring never hurt if that leg was the behind leg but I couldn't have it out front
Enigma Poledancer · 7/15/2011
Yea thats what it is now it feels great when im stretching my right split but it cant be out front right now and seriously 3 months?! :/ Did u nursue it at all? What did u do to help it? im gonna do the recommended exercises, ice treatment, self massage, professional sport massage once or twice a week, alternate with hot and cold treatment, icyhot, legwraps you name it. Ive done my research im gonna get rid of this!
Veena · 7/15/2011
Use a foam roller too! Hope you heal quickly.
Enigma Poledancer · 7/15/2011
Ill have to buy one but yea I know that would help the healing process thx veena :)
Shellectra · 7/15/2011
Yeah it took ages to go away! but it was never bad enough for me to do anything about, and only hurt if I had the leg in front in a split, so I just avoided doing that and never felt it otherwise! Oh except for one day after trying to make it the front split leg and I could feel a tight pulling of the hamstring the next day at work, but when I made it my back leg I never felt it again except if I tried to make it the front leg if that makes sense. Now if I try it's gone (the pain is gone) but the flexibility is less so I just let it be the back leg now, lol. Moral of the story for me was warm up b4 stretching!!!! And yes I got a foam roller and love it
NikkiP20 · 7/16/2011
I know a couple of people already said foam roller. I also use a baseball (if that's to hard a tennis ball works too). It's perfect for that area of thigh. My thigh has been sore in the same area and as soon as started using the baseball along with the foam roller, pain was gone :) Good Luck! Hope it heals quickly :)
Enigma Poledancer · 7/16/2011
k nikki but can you do your splits after it heals? and can someone suggest a foam roller there are so many and i'm looking to purchase one now. links would be helpful too plz :)
NikkiP20 · 7/16/2011
I'm still working on the ever eluding splits lol but after using both the foam roller and baseball I am not even an inch off the ground. So I use these two things before streching and I am able to get deeper into my stretches. I bought my foam roller at target and it was $20.
Shellectra · 7/16/2011
What do you do with the foam roller before you do the splits nikki? I use mine and kinda roll over it for 20 seconds with firstly the underside of my upper thighs, then I lie on my side with leg bent and roll the hamstring as much I can on either side, then I dont kno what else to do lol
Enigma Poledancer · 7/16/2011
Thx Nikki I'll check my local target to see if they have any :)
NikkiP20 · 7/16/2011
I roll over the entire hamstring for a slow count of 10 and if there are any tender spots ill stop and hold for as long as i can bear it lol. Then i do a foam roller stretch. So ill roll it up to the top of my hamstrings and keeping my legs straight, I start bending over as for as i can. I usually try to hold for a count of 30 or so. And then roll the roller down alittle bit and do the stretch again. Basically, you keep going down the length of the hamstring until you are unable to keep your legs straight or keep your balance. Then i do my regular hamstring stretches without the foam roller and then repeat the foam roller strecth. I have really tight hamstrings, so you may not need to repeat. My problem area is the top of the hamstring so if that is really tight ill take my baseball and roll over it and do circles. A baseball or tennisball will get to the those hard to reach places. I hope this made sense and helps you out...Happy Stretching :)