Hamstring Injury Prevention in Sport

Hamstring injuries can be frustrating and distressing for athletes and potentially disastrous for coaches and sports teams.  The athlete is faced with time away from competition and training.  The coach, athlete and team are then faced with use of substitute players, possible.withdrawal from competition if an individual sport (such as track and field), loss of rankings (due to failure to compete in individual sports) plus the frustration of persistent symptoms, slow healing and high rate of re-injury.

Sports that have a high incidence of hamstring injuries are those that involve high speed running and kicking such as:

• Rugby Union
• Rugby League
• Football (soccer)
• American Football
• Australian Rules Football
• Track and Field

The high frequency of hamstring injuries among these sports has led to an increased interest in injury prevention strategies.

The latest information available recommends:

1. An eccentric exercise protocol be followed
2. As the hamstring are not the only muscle groups susceptible to muscle strain injuries in the lower body, exercises should be designed with the hip flexors, plantar flexors and hip adductors in mind
3. Any muscle imbalance addressed with particular focus on core strength and on hamstring to quads ratio.
4. Risk factors are recognised and where possible minimised.

At Physiofixme we have designed a hamstring prevention programme incorporating all of the above factors.