Tore my hamstring
Context:
I tore my hamstring back on 22 Jan 2026 while doing RDLs in the gym. I’ve been training for around 3.5 years now. The first 1.5 years were kind of on and off, but the last 2 years I’ve been very consistent in the gym.
One important thing is that I also already had a Grade 2 ACL tear in the SAME knee/leg from a couple years ago. I never got surgery for it, so technically I still have the torn ACL. I honestly don’t know if that affects the recovery process for the hamstring or not.
Because of the ACL, there were certain exercises I avoided. My doctor told me not to do leg extensions, so I stopped doing those. I also never really squatted much. The doctor said I could do squats, but mentally I was always scared of putting too much pressure on the ACL, especially because I can’t fully bend that knee properly either. So for legs I mostly stuck to stuff like leg press, deadlifts/RDLs, and leg curls.
So coming to the injury itself, it was winter, I warmed up my legs, did like 2 warm-up sets and then my first working set. After that set I went to talk to the trainer for maybe 10 minutes. Then I came back and started my second set.
During the second set I felt some tightness in my left hamstring while doing the RDLs, but I brushed it off thinking it was just a good stretch and that I was feeling the movement properly that day. Finished the set anyway.
Then on the third set, around the 4th rep, my hamstring tore. I could literally feel the tightness getting worse and worse until it just went. And yeah, I know it was my mistake for ignoring the warning signs, I’m not blaming anyone else.
As you can see from the two pictures above, the first pic is from 2 feb (10 days after the injury) and the second pic is from 2 days ago. The bruise literally looks the exact same. It hasn’t changed at all.
I even went to a doctor last month (around 3 months after the injury). He checked it and said there’s just a small gap in the muscle, nothing too serious, and that it would probably take around 6 months total to heal. So basically 3 more months left.
But the thing that’s worrying me is that it’s been 4 months already and there’s been basically zero change in the bruise. I also completely stopped gym, avoided activities, and didn’t really walk much either.
Today was the first time I walked a long distance in a while and my hamstring started to hurt, which honestly freaked me out a bit.
I am planning to go back to the doctor, but probably not immediately. I’ll most likely wait another month or two and see if things improve once the full 6 months are up. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, idk.
So I just wanted to ask if this is normal for a hamstring injury or if I’m cooked lol. Not asking for any sort of medical advice, I just wanted to know if anyone here has been through something similar, especially with an existing ACL injury, and how long it took them to recover.