Slow Hammstring healing process.

Dear Ask The Doctor: I tore my hamstring for the second time about 9 weeks ago. It was a tear in the muscle, not the tendon. After 9 weeks I am only slightly better. I am still walking with a limp and I am in fairly constant pain. I am taking Advil as well as doctor prescribed Tramadol which does alleviate the pain but I fear the healing process has been extremely slow. My problem now is that I am starting to get pain around my achilles tendon and calf muscle. My thoughts are that my hamstring is tight and it is pulling my achilles causing the pain. I did have an MRI done 3 weeks ago and you can clearly see the tear and the tendons are ok so I won't need surgery. My question is this: No one can tell me what to do to get better, this has been absolutely awful. With the additional pain in my ankle I am just miserable. Is there something else wrong that I should be worried about is will this get better soon?

Dear Tyler: The pain you are feeling due to the previous hamstring injury, possibly made you have modify your gait patterns and this is one of the factors involved in producing the Achilles pain, along with the lack of stretching of those muscles. The healing time is different for every patient  and also depends on the severity of the initial injury. The conservative treatment consists of:  protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation (known as the PRICE formula) can help and also maintaining the strained muscle in a stretched position. Heat can be applied when the swelling has lessened, anti-inflammatory medication helps to control the pain (i.e.: “Aleve”), rest the strained muscle and avoid the activities that caused the strain and other activities that may be painful. In the view that your most recent MRI is normal, I strongly recommend you to follow a Physical Therapy program for 4-6 weeks and you should be able to practice at home the stretching exercises above all. Avoid overuse and try to do an appropriate warming-up and stretching before significant physical activity.