Hamstring Injuries

Hamstring injuries are particularly common in sports involving sprinting, kicking and, more generally, movements with high speed and/or high range of motion. Generally speaking, the HS muscles are biarticular muscles and they are therefore more prone to injury due to the high demand in lengthening resistance when they are in maximum external range of motion (Opar et al., 2012; Valle et al., 2015; Ekstrand et al., 2011).

These injuries present a challenge both in terms of the long recovery time and the increased vulnerability of the HS due to possible recurrences. Moreover, the consequences of recurrence are not negligible, since it has been shown that recurrence of hamstring strain injury results in much greater absence from sport than the initial injury (Brooks et al., 2006).

If we observe such a high rate of recurrences in the literature, it is probably because of a too early return to play, or because rehabilitation has been poorly adapted (Connell et al., 2006; Silder et al., 2013). In this module, we will review the various injury mechanisms specific to the hamstring, the different treatments available, and the return-to-sport criteria.