Thigh pain when Stretching or Walking? You may have Strained your Ischiotibials

Do your thighs hurt when you stretch?  Do you work out at the gym, play football, dance, and experience leg pain with certain movements? Ischiotibial strain….what is it?

What are the ischiotibials?

The ischiotibials are three muscles that run down the back part of the leg, and reach from the thigh to the knee.  These three muscles are known as the femoral biceps, the semitendinosus, and the semimembranosus.  These muscles help bend the knee and extend the hip.  They also provide strength and support the leg.

A strain, on the other hand, is an excessive pull that could also be called a pull or a tear.  When speaking of an ischiotibial strain, we’re talking about when one or more of these three muscles has been over-stretched or pulled too far, to the point of tearing the muscle.

Symptoms of an ischiotibial sprain

• Pain when stretching your leg or walking, as well as when moving the leg when dancing, raising it, etc.  The pain could depend on the level of tear.
• There could be redness or inflammation in the area.
• Painful to touch, and a sense of weakness in the leg.

Recovery:

• Rest: this isn’t actually a very serious problem.  It generally disappears after a period of rest.  The degree off injury will determine the amount of rest necessary.  In order to recover, we also recommend you stop doing whatever activity you were doing before you injured yourself.  This could tear the muscle again and cause a chronic injury, which is difficult to solve over time.  You should stop doing this activity until you don’t feel any pain when moving your leg or stretching.
• Slowly resume your physical activities.  Always remember to warm-up, jump in place for a while and stretch your body.
• While resting, take advantage of your time to read things that help to manage stress.  Did you know that stress, or a constantly competitive attitude creates too much tension within the muscles?  And if your muscles are tense because of stress or competition, it will be easier to hurt yourself because your muscles will be more rigid than if you were to relax and enjoy.  So always remember above all, to learn to enjoy and take pleasure in your physical activities before experiencing them as a competition.
• Try to eat healthy so that your muscles recover quickly.  As an athlete, I’m sure you eat as good as you can, but this time try to include brewer’s yeast, chia seed, fish, 2 liters of water a day, and raw and steamed vegetables.  Start your day before breakfast with an apple smoothie, as this will enormously aid in recovering your muscle fibers.  (See the smoothie below)

Apple smoothie to recover muscle fibers

You will need:

• One raw apple, peeled and cored.
• One glass of almond milk (avoid cow’s milk)
• One Tbsp. oatmeal
• One Tbsp. chia seeds

Blend everything and drink without straining.  Take advantage of this moment to take two capsules of brewer’s yeast, which is very rich in amino acids.  You should also drink carrot juice with aloe vera, which is an amazing at regenerating cells.

Emotional causes which influence muscular strains

Excessive tension caused by competition noticeably influences sprains, but even more so does the stress or anxiety that the competitor, athlete, or whoever is practicing the activity, while they are doing their activity.  Muscles are associated with strength, and in this case, feelings of “over-exertion” or not feeling adequate for the “weight” of competition, could cause the athlete to unknowingly stress his/her muscles.  When moving this will cause more possibility of sprains because the muscle doesn’t flow smoothly.  Over-exertion not only takes place when training, but you may feel pressured in some aspect of your life.

We recommend, in this case, that you always enjoy your activities.  Remember that the best prize of all is the satisfaction of breaking your own limits and flowing in the enjoyment of what you like to do.  Competitive feelings also create stress, which leads to disappointment if you don’t meet your expectations.  Whenever you are competing or training, warm up very well, create a mind full of enjoyment, flow in your activity and slowly feel your body become whole with the enjoyment of your movement.

Enjoying your movements not only relaxes the body, but it makes you more flexible, capable and stronger.  It activates a powerful energy circulation throughout your entire body.

Revised by: Dra. Loredana Lunadei on 05/18/2018

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