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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How can training regimes be tailored to prevent hamstring injuries?

    Related Topics
    Fitness and Sports Medicine Sports Injuries & Prevention
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    Jonathan Harris

    Physiotherapist

    Jonathan Harris is a Titled Sports and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist having achieved Master Degrees in both fields. As well as his undergraduate Physiotherapy degree he also … View Profile



    Hamstring injuries are a multifactorial problem meaning there are many factors that contribute to a hamstring injury, not just a training regimen. However, it is certainly a smart idea to limit the risk of hamstring injury if you can (through tailoring your training programme).
    To limit the risk of hamstring injury, a training regimen should incorporate;

    1. Specific and graduated hamstring strengthening and stretching as part of the training regimen will mean the hamstrings and surrounding muscles are in better condition

    2. Training in general should be graduated. This means you should start to train at lower intensities and build intensity and endurance both within the training session and over time

    3. One of the most important and often overlooked parts of training is recovery. If you don’t allow enough time for muscles (in this case the hamstrings) to recover you are more likely to injure them when you next return to exercise or train. There are a number of ways you can speed recovery, which will limit the likelihood of injury to the hamstring.
    a. Latest studies show eating carbohydrate within the first 30 minutes post activity helps with muscle recovery
    b. Ice baths (immediately) after activity release adrenalin from the adrenal glands into the blood stream. Adrenalin cleans up lactic acid, which is a by-product of muscle activity. Lactic acid is an ACID and is destructive to the tissue it sits in. The longer it is in the muscle the more destruction occurs (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and the longer it therefore takes to recover.
    c. Other dietary supplements can assist with recovery too. For further information on this topic it is worth seeking the advice of an exercise physiologist.

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  • Dr Phillip Hamersley

    Chiropractor

    Chiropractor at Hamersley Family Chiropractic in Baldivis & Serpentine, Western Australia. Dr Phil Hamersley is your local chiropractor at Hamersley Family Chiropractic in Baldivis and … View Profile

    Hi,

    In addition to a well planned training regime that Jonathon has mentioned, you also need to consider what may be potentially causing your hamstring injury and correct this also. While it is overstretching that causes the strain within the muscle, you will find that in many cases the hamstring muscle is already hypertonic (tight) due to underlying structural or functional changes.

    For example, the origin of the hamstring muscle is the ischial tuberosity, which is the bottom tip of your pelvis. Changes to your pelvis (such as anterior/forward tilting, or dysfunctional sacro-iliac joints) may place added tension to your hamstring, making a strain of the muscle much more likely. Correction of this pelvic dysfunction and strengthening of core musculature to correct the pelvic tilting, will often assist in preventing hamstring injury. 

    As well as this, you may have excessive tension within your hamstring due to neurogenic changes (originating from your nerves). These changes may be due to dysfunction within your lumbar spine or pelvis, causing the hamstrings to become hypertonic. Correcting this dysfunction will allow your spine and pelvis to function at its optimum, and may assist with decreasing tension within your hamstrings, therefore preventing the chance of further injury. I hope this helps.

    Regards,

    Dr. Phil

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  • Dr Alasdair Dempsey

    Exercise Scientist

    University biomechanist focussing on mechanisms and prevention of sports injury and musculoskeltal disease. View Profile

    The best training shown to reduce the risk of hamstring injuries is eccentrict hamstring training.  This basically means get your hamstring to work while still getting longet.  This mimics the loading that hamstrings experiance during running. 

    One easy exercise to do is Russian Hamstring Lowers.  Kneel down and have a partner hold onto your ankles.  Then try and lower you cheast as close to the gound as possible while maintaining a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.  Start of easy - 1 set of 6-10 reps and build it up to 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps.

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