Complete avulsion of hamstring

Hi Sandra

Sorry I've come on to this thread so late....I used to be aalways on these forums but have been having a break recently,

I dont know about your injury but I have and avulsion of ther greater trochanter bone.

This happened  weeks post op after 2nd Total hip replacement, doing an NHS exercise  and there was a massive crack  That was almost 2 years ago and I'm still on crutches and still trying to get on top of the pain.   No one has ever heard of this before infact very few beople know what an avulsion is

I'm in the UK  Told it will not  heal,  no operation for it.  If they could get on top of the pain it would be a help.

Steroid injections were no good whatso ever......they are now trying a low dose of morphine {not happy.....a bit scared of it}

By the way the trochanter is at the top of the leg.....at the femur roughly.

I had never heard of it before

Love

Eileen UK

I have a near complete Avulsion of the hamstring plus tendons injury . I obtained my injury from a slip and fall. I am 46 year old female and I am not a athletic. I seen a orthopaedic doctor and he said I should have surgery to repair it asap. From the time of my injury I have gained strength in my leg and managable pain level. I would prefer non surgerical treatment with pt. Looking for opinons from others

Thank you

Hi Sherri, Can you be a bit more precise about your hamstring injury. The hamstrings are three separate muscles which attach via tendons at the ischial tuberosity at the top. Hamstring injuries at the sit bone can range from a small tear in just one of the tendons to complete avulsions of one, two or all three tendons. I have two of the three tendons completely avulsed with 4 cm retraction. I have done much research on this and it would seem that the decision to operate is largely governed by how many tendons are detached and how far they have retracted. How many tendons are injured, if completely detached, how far have they retracted?

It sounds as though only one of the tendons has come away from the ischial tuberosity. As far as the other two are concerend if the damage is in the muscle, this is usual at the muscular tendon junction and is not treated surgically. This heals by itself. If the tendon that is detached is not retracted too far then it will scar down to neighbouring structures and you will still have suficient tension on that muscle for it to be pretty functional. So given time you will end up with two good hamstrings and one not quite perfect. Even if the detached hamstring is retracted further it is rare to operate as function will still be pretty good, maybe for a professional athlete they would. Roughly speaking, the point where they would consider operating is with two or more tendons detached and more than 2cm retraction. Hope that helps. 

Sorry I read your answer quickly and thought you had written tendon, in the singular. I have just seen you say tendons. So are all three detached?

Hello,

i had had a successful reattachment  of my hamstring in 2013.. I had a total 15cm avulsiiin from a fall on a wet floor. The accident happened in April  and the reattachment happened in July. The recovery was rough but better than the alternative...a hamstring muscle hanging down my leg looking like a Popeyes muscle.. I had a couple of Drs tell me to "live with it". Thank goodness I found a dr to help me.

In February of 2014, I suffered a proximal hamstring avulsion/rupture after falling from a deck.  The prognosis was two complete tendon ruptures/retractments with the third tendon damaged but not completely ruptured/retracted.  I also had extensive tearing in the belly of the hamstring muscle.  The decision-making process for surgery or non-operative rehabilitation was a very difficult decision for me, as I read many blogs and saw many specialists with conflicting opinions.  Furthermore, given the rarity of the injury, most of the surgeons I saw had either never performed the surgery, or performed very few times. As such, they were not able to confidently give the pros/cons of surgery vs. non-operative procedure with high conviction.  Ultimately, I finally found a surgeon who had performed many procedures over the years, as well as some on top athletes.  Given that I was an extremely active 26 year old that wanted to return to high-performance athletic activities (running, biking, climbing, skiing, swimming etc.) I decided that surgery was my best option.  Two years later, I am very glad a made that decision.  The recovery was difficult initially, but I improved rapidly over the first 6 months.  While I currently still have some limitations/irritations, I feel the outcome was much better than what would have been achieved going the non-operative route.  Unfortunately I still do have poor flexibility in the leg, and relative weakness compared to the other.  Also, sitting for long periods of time also causes discomfort, and it gets tired earlier than my other leg, as well as soreness after heavy usage.  However, I have been able to return to all of my previous athletic endeavors, with almost no actual limitations.  I would classify the leg as about 85% of original form, and I feel I should be able to get it to 90% - 95% over time.  So I would highly recommend the surgery for all those who wish to live an active lifestyle post-injury.