A hamstring injury is a tear in the group of muscles at the back of the thigh and commonly occurs during sports that require running or sprinting like football, soccer, or track and field.
You can avoid hamstring injuries by increasing their strength and flexibility. If you experience frequent hamstring injuries, pulled hamstring therapy will both alleviate the symptoms and help to correct their underlying cause.
What is a hamstring injury?
The hamstring comprises the three muscles that run from the pelvis down to the back of the knee — the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris. This muscle group enables you to bend and straighten your leg.
There are three grades of hamstring tears, depending on the severity of the injury. A hamstring strain usually feels like a sudden, stabbing pain in the back of the upper leg. In severe cases, even walking may be impossible.
How to prevent a hamstring injury
The thighs are made up of two opposing muscle groups — the hamstrings and quadriceps. These groups of muscles work together to stabilize the knee during activities like sprinting.
Hamstring injuries often occur because of an imbalance between the two groups. If the hamstrings are lacking in mobility or strength in comparison to the quadriceps, a hamstring strain is more likely to occur.
The quadriceps are stronger and larger than the hamstrings, partly because we use them more frequently. The best way to protect yourself against injury to your hamstrings is by improving their flexibility and strength, as well as strengthening the muscles that support the legs like your glutes and core.
Warming up before exercise is important to increase the flexibility in your muscles before you put them under strain. Tightness in the quadriceps and glutes can cause the hamstrings to become overloaded.
Exercises that target the hamstrings and glutes are squats and deadlifts. Because weak core muscles can overload the hamstrings, strength exercises such as sit-ups and planks that target the abdominals are also helpful.
Stability exercises like single-leg balancing, single-leg squats, and lunges help the quadriceps and hamstrings work in unison. Yoga is also a great way of strengthening and improving the flexibility of the hamstrings and their supporting muscles.
Treating a recurring hamstring injury
Pulled hamstring therapy in Waterford, MI., includes a complete examination to determine the severity of the injury and correct its underlying cause. Your chiropractor will prescribe exercises in accordance with your current fitness level to help prevent hamstring injuries from reoccurring.
Marilyn Self is a writer, blogger and podcaster of health and technology. She has been a science journalist, a senior editor at Scientific American, and she’s written for many other publications she is a writer, blogger and podcaster.
A writer of health and technology, Marilyn is an author and editor of more than 60 books that have sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.