How to Mangange a Hamstring Strain

Here’s what happens when you are assessed by a Physio after a Hamstring Strain:

Hamstring strains are a common injury we see here at Physio and Fitness Clinic. These commonly occur in sports that require a lot of change of pace and direction (such as team sports). It is common that these take over four weeks to heal, and often six weeks from games before an athlete is safe to resume their sport. 

Assessment of this injury involves touching the area of soreness, to feel for tight sections within the muscle, noting any bruising that can often occur with significant strains or partial tears. We will also test the length of the muscle with hip and knee range of movement tasks. 

From here we move to functional assessment, which (depending on severity) will include walking/ running assessment, step up if relevant, single leg squat, bridging quality and knee bend strength. This all depends on the goals for the client and can change from person to person. 

Here’s what to expect with a Physio managing your hamstring strain rehabilitation:

Your Physio is best placed to guide your rehabilitation in terms of building up the muscle strength and recovery post injury. 

If the injury is very painful in the initial stages, and particularly if you are limping still a few days later, your Physio will likely commence with non-weight bearing exercises to stimulate improvement within the muscle tissue that does not cause the healing cells further damage. Put simply, if you try to overdo it in the initial stage, you will likely cause further issues to the muscle and slow recovery. This might be as simple as just laying on your tummy and bending your foot towards your glutes and holding. 

Once you can walk without a limp (and hamstrings generally improve quickly), this is the stage you can commence heavier load exercises. This might include squats, bridges, and hamstring curls against the opposite leg. 

Once the movement patterns have continued to improve and the range of movement is normal, then heavier load tasks are added (more like things you might do in a gym setting) before adding some gentle straight line running. 

Following this, then you move on to faster pace (plyometric) work and change of pace running before returning to training 🙂