Hamstring injury could tear apart Bliss’ WC dreams
JAMAICA’S 100M sprint hurdler, Andrea Bliss, looks set to miss next month’s National Trials t o select the country’s team to this year’s World Championships, having suffered a grade-two hamstring tear.
Bliss, 34, sustained the injury last Wednesday while warming up at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Challenge Meet in Beijing, China. She would, however, still compete, but was forced to amble across the finish line due to the severity of the pain.
“On my way back for the whole flight, I couldn’t put my leg down as it was hurting so bad. When I got home, I did the MRI that same day, and I got the results back on Saturday, and they said it was a grade-two tear to the hamstring,” the former St Jago and University of Florida athlete revealed.
“Talking about it is very difficult, it is hard because there is a very high possibilit; I am not going to be competing at the trials. I am getting treatment on Tuesday (today) here, and then I am going to be getting treatment while I am away, and then when I come back here I finish treatment.”
The Fitz Coleman-coached athlete ran her personal best of 12.82 seconds in 2013, having not previously broken the 13-second barrier since 2009.
For this season, her best time stands at 13.07, which she did earlier this month at the Jamaica International Invitational World Challenge Meet in Kingston.
“It is definitely a real setback because this wasn’t in the plans at all, I didn’t calculate this, of being hurt going into the trials. If I am back and not 100 per cent, I won’t be facing the starters, knowing that I am not ready and then don’t make the team and be disappointed,” the 2013 World Championships semi-finalist shared.
“Everything that I was doing was geared towards the trials, so for me to get hurt at this time of the year going into the championships, it just leaves a dent in everything that I worked on and that was planned for. I know I could have made that team, so it is just sad to know that something I have been training for all year, and it seems like I am not going to be able to run at the trials.”
TREATMENT DELAY
Sports medicine expert, Dr Paul Wright, contends that the delay in getting treatment is regrettable, as how long a hamstring takes to heal depends on how quickly treatment is administered.
“If a grade-two hamstring tear is allowed to heal by rest, it will heal, but shortened,” Wright explained. “That means that there will be re-injury whenever the muscle is stretched to its fullest. Healing must be accompanied by a controlled stretching programme to ensure that the muscle is healed at its maximum length.
“Treatment with ice and NSAIDS (non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs) and physiotherapy can heal (pain free) in 10 to 14 days. However, if the tear is visualised by ultrasound within eight hours of the injury and platelet-rich plasma inserted into the site of the tear, healing can occur in 48 hours.”