Hamstring / Glute Injury?

[Waterboy19]

Hi All, I'm new to this forum, which I fell upon in my quest for diagnosis. Here are the basics:
1. When did the pain begin? 3 weeks ago
2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time? I was playing basketball, sprinting on a fastbreak, when I felt a twinge towards the outside of my hamstring/glute. I finished the game, and stretched afterwards. It felt fine the next day, so I played in my league game the next night. It felt a little funny, but I played 30 of the 40 minutes without pain. The next day is was painful to sit down, and hurt to walk.
3. Where, anatomically, is the pain? Two places, the first is what I described above, right where the gluteus and hamstring meet towards the outside (but not thigh) of my leg. The other place is the inner hamstring muscle.
4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting? The ham/glute injury is dull/aching, while the inner hamstring is slightly sharper.
5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions? Constant pain when sitting for the glute/ham injury. Walking, and stabilizing upright seems to irritate the inner hamstring muscle
6. What motions make your pain worse? stretching seems to be what caused me to agitate the glute/ham. The inner hamstring
7. What, if anything, makes your pain better? Jogging made the inner hamstring injury feel better once i warmed up. The glute
8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body? It seems like pain has traveled between the two injuries. They typically don't hurt at the same time.
9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury? Pretty much worthless, tried working out (just upper body), but they typically require stabilization which strains the hamstring. Have not tried playing basketball or sprinting.
10. What is your main concern regarding the pain and its consequences? I want it to go away, but started getting scared when it seemed like there are 2 points of injury.
11. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how? Pulled my hamstring sprinting in college once, not very severely. Healed in about 2 weeks.
12. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period? I've aggravated it multiple times (when the inner hamstring hurts, it doesnt take much, such as long strides or standing with knees slightly bent). I aggravated the glute/ham last night while stretching after jogging (felt no pain while jogging, which alleviated the inner hamstring pain).

Sorry, wanted to explain in enough detail to improve chances of finding out what it is. The frustrating thing is I cant tell if I have two injuries, or one that is spreading. Any suggestions? TIA

[UConnJulie]

When you say "inner hamstring", do you mean up in your groin/butt area or down by your knee?

[Waterboy19]

Sorry. Definitely more towards the butt/groin area.

[UConnJulie]

Sounds like it is all a proximal hamstring strain.
Ice.
Rest.
Gentle stretching.
Deep massage.
And get your glutes to start working properly to keep it from happening again.

[Waterboy19]

Thanks Julie. So I should ice as opposed to moist heat? The intial injury occured nearly 3 weeks ago, and there was no noticeable swelling. Also, how do I get my glutes to start working? I work out everyday (when I'm not injured - I tried working out upper body after the hamstring injury, and quickly found it was needed for stabilization in too many exercises) and am in really good shape. For legs, I typically do squats or leg presses, along with leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises. I admit though, when compaing leg curls to leg extensions, my hamstrings are only about 50% as strong as my quads. I read somewhere it should really be in the 60-80% range. Is this what you're referring to?

[UConnJulie]

I'm partial to ice, but heat won't hurt probably at this point.

Try a search on here for "glute activation". Should net you some good threads.

And ditch the machines for lower body work ... perform more "functional" movements ... like squats, lunges, step ups (and all variations) etc. But not until it is painfree.

[Waterboy19]

Thanks Julie - it's still giving me trouble and hurts to sit. This is driving me crazy!

[UConnJulie]

Sounds like it might be time to get it checked out in person by a qualified professional.