Muscle pop how long to rest

I have recently (7 weeks) joined my local gym and have been enjoying the benefits of becoming more toned & feeling fitter.  I am 46 and a little bit overweight.  Until joining the gym I was taking a weekly ballet lesson at intermediate level, not too challenging but I've been doing ballet for years and whilst not keeping me too fit it kept me quite strong & supple.  At the gym I have followed a program of cycling, fast walking using the xtrainer and a few light weights, After each session I have also been stretching out to increase my suppleness.  I have been quite careful and not pushed too hard.  Anyway last week I was going down into splits after working out and stretching when I heard a pop in the top of my leg, I hadn't over stretched and was not as far down as I could go..  It was a little painful, but not too bad anyway  that evening i could hardly sleep and in the moring I had trouble putting a sock on that foot.  I took a couple of painkillers and it eased up after that, the next day it was much better.  Meanwhile I consulted the Internet and realised how bad a popped muscle can be, but the symptons I read seem far worse than mine ie not too much pain, no bruising, but I do get pain if I slightly overstretch the leg.   Whilst the initial pain eased very quickly ie the next day, the pain and ache has not improved much over the subsequent few day.  It aches a bit and hurts more when I am sitting down, as soon as I stand up the pain goes, the pain is in my butt more than the top of my leg, I haven't needed to take any more painkillers.  What I would like some advice on is if I would be ok to return to the gym  and take things easy, maybe not do the leg weights just the cycling, xtrainer & walking, I think i'm going to give the stretching a miss!!!

[jdesouza]

It sounds as if you may have partially torn a tendon. Rest is going to be important to letting it recover. For a couple of weeks you can go to the gym but don't hurt your leg. After that slowly return back to normal. It may hurt slightly while you use it but if you notice it hurting the next day then scale back. Be careful as you don't want to fully tear it.
Good luck