Hamstring Injury

Hamstring Injury is common in sports and is sometimes known as a ‘pulled Hamstring’. Usually, the Hamstring muscle is forcibly stretched beyond its limits and the muscle tissue becomes torn. Ham-string strains are one of the most common sports injuries. They commonly occur in sports that in-volve high speed sprinting and kicking. Hamstring injury is likely to occur during the late swing and late stance phase of running. This injury can cause significant loss of training and competition time.

Symptoms Of Hamstring Injury

With a Grade one Hamstring strain, the signs may not be present until after the activity is over. There may be a sensation of Hamstring cramp/ tightness and a slight feeling of pain when the muscles are stretched or contracted.

With a Grade two Hamstring strain there is immediate pain which is more severe than the pain of a grade one injury. It is confirmed by pain on stretch and contraction of the muscle. A grade two Hamstring strain is usually sore to touch.

A Grade three Hamstring strain is a very serious injury. There is an immediate burning/ stabbing pain and the athlete is unable to walk without pain. The muscle is completely torn and there may be a large lump of muscle tissue above a depression where the tear is. Bruising will appear below the injury site.

Treatment Of Hamstring Injury

The immediate treatment of a Hamstring muscle injury consists of the POLICE protocol – protect, optimal loading, ice, compression and elevation. It is important that this is done cor-rectly and your Physiotherapist can advise you on this. This is aimed at reducing the bleeding and damage within the Hamstring muscle tissue.

After the early stages have been spent resting, more active rehabilitation can be started. Realistically, for best results this should be started as early as possible.

Gentle resistance exercises and stretching are important as they help to align the scar tissue that forms during healing. Our skilled Physiotherapists will devise a sports specific rehabili-tation programme tailored to your needs. We can guide you through the process of returning to play successfully and re-duce the risk of occurrence.

Our Expertise

Our Physiotherapists are highly trained and qualified to provide expert care to our patients. They are fully insured and are chartered by the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP).

Our Sports Physiotherapists have extensive clinical experience diagnosing and treatment hamstring injuries. Following detailed clinical assessment, they will devise a rehabilitation program tailored to your needs. They will be able to assess and advise your Biomechanics, sporting technique and muscle coordination.

We have team of Clinical leads who visits our Physiotherapists and clinics to ensure a level of customer service and quality care that exceeds our competition is given to patients every time.