I think I’ve torn my hamstring!

hamstrings are complex and there can be multiple reasons why they tear, but let’s go over the key reason! Hamstrings span across two joints and attach at the hip and the knee. When you’re sprinting, the hamstrings have the unfortunate task of controlling the knee joint and ensuring the powerhouse of the thigh(quads) don’t take over and keep extending your knee past the boundaries of range your knee should travel in. Your quads are the on button, and your hamstrings are the off button.

During sprinting, the hamstrings can get lengthened too much, and like a theraband snapping and hitting you in the face, the hamstrings overstretch, and the muscle fibres fail, resulting in a tear and a loud, uncomfortable POP! Of course, there are a whole bunch of reasons why this happens which are specific to your individual biomechanics, sprinting technique, training history and level of strength. This just further highlights why a rehab program needs to be specific to you and not just a cookie-cutter program you follow because such and such AFL player followed it and returned to sport in 3 weeks compared to the normal 4-6 weeks.

Please tell me how to prevent it!

Hamstrings are still somewhat an enigma in the research world, but we’ve established three great training principles to follow for an Injury Prevention program.

Number one, strengthen your hamstrings!

Nordic hamstring exercises have been the flavour of the month for a long time; however, researchers now suggest we need to have a more holistic approach to hamstring strengthening. This is because the hamstrings have a very large force-velocity profile and need to be able to express power and maximal strength at different lengths and different types of muscle contractions. Exercises should include lengthening exercises such as Nordics, RDLs and eccentric hamstring sliders, as well as isometric exercises such as single leg bridge holds or weighted holds on the glute-ham raise machine.

Number two, don’t throw yourself in the deep end when it comes to sprinting.

Maybe you could go from couch to sprinting when you were a 10-year-old and invincible, but not so much anymore. Going from 0 to a 100 is a sure-fire way to book yourself a physio appointment for a torn muscle, so take it slow! Give yourself gradual exposure to sprinting to allow your physical tolerance for high-intensity loads to increase over time. To prevent injuries during sprinting, you must sprint!

If you want to run fast, then you have to practice running fast, common sense right? Exposing your hamstrings to a high-speed session 1-2x a week will make them stronger for tasks that require speed and higher intensity.

Number three, work on your lumbopelvic control.

Certain types of pelvic positions can increase your risk of hamstrings tears because of the increased stretch placed on the hamstrings. Doing regular Pilates or exercises that isolate movements to challenge postural awareness is a great way to ensure you improve your sprinting technique.

So, I’ve done my hamstring, should I do nothing for the next 4 weeks?

Definitely not! Your rehab should start straight away. The first thing we do is to find ways to move around your injury. Think of a big juicy donut. The inside circle of the donut is your hamstring tear, the outside circle of the donut is everything else – just because you tore your hamstring doesn’t mean you are now crippled and can’t do anything, you still get to enjoy your donut!

Generally, during the initial phase, we start off with gentle isometric exercise which encourages blood flow into the area and can reduce pain sensitivity. This happens from day 1 of your injury, not 3 weeks post. From here we gradually strengthen the hamstrings across the force-velocity profile. We also have a big emphasis on running mechanics that will prepare you for return to running even better than before your injury.

The final part of hamstring rehab is the most important and is the one where most people make mistakes. This is called a re-conditioning. Doing one session with a few sprint efforts sprinkled in does not mean you are 100% ready to return to sport. This phase needs to include an assessment of running form, bounding, running downhill, running uphill and increasing your cardiovascular fitness.

Just remember the principles of Protect and Expose. We initially want to protect the injury, and from there we want to expose it to new stimuli and bulletproof it for when you return to running like a gazelle in those 8x200m efforts.