HAM STRING

[Mack]

Pulled my ham string about 4 weeks ago. Did it sprinting.

Felt like a pop type thing.did the old R'I'C'E' thing and all seemed a ok. could do squats and all.

Seemed to pull it again last week, but again got better and was doing full squats last night.... again all good. Tonight went to sprint again. Strapped my leg again. But it popped again.

Can anyone help on how to get it stronger and recover quicker. Any help would be greatfull.

[Jim]

Alirght Mack, sorry to hear you've picked up an injury i know how painfull a pulled hamstring can be i did mine during a 100m race a few years back and it felt like i'd been stabbed in the leg!

I did the whole RICE thing and went to see a sports therapist who managed to sort it out, hurt like hell when he was working on me but it haven't had another problem since.

As far as excersises to make it stronger forget the hamstring curl the daddy of hammy excersises has to be the stiff leg dead lift. Details and photos can be found at www.scrum.com/fitness/strength/exercisesothers.asp

I can't profess to be an expert but this has worked for me. Good luck on the rehab

[slinger]

i'd be doing more of the 'R' in rice!!!!!!!!

hope you sort it soon big man!

[lasher2]

Neil.

I tore my hamstring on 22nd march this year (found it in my training diary now) and even though it was only a grade 1 tear (which is the smallest grade) I went to see a good physio straight away and was put straight onto a rehab program.

The rehab program was simple. I was told to start running on it straight away. I had some dry needling done on it to settle it down somewhat, but the day after I sustained the injury I was doing 50m runs on the track at a pace that caused no pain at all (which was pretty slow as it was sore from the needling).

I did this every day for the first week. Obviously as it started to feel stronger I picked up the pace a little, but only to the extent of what my body would allow.

The following is the rehab program that I carried out:

Day 1: 2 x (5 x 80m) walk back between reps/ 5 mins between sets
Javelin running drills (lateral, i.e. side skips and cross overs)
Ice (20 mins)

Day 2: As day 1 (but without the jav drills)
Eccentric hamstring Curl (someone will have to lift the bar up for the concentric part so you can carry out the eccentric work), reps 6 x 10 with 2-3 mins recovery.

Day 3: Light throwing session off grass (if poss)
2 x (5 x 80m) (recoveries as day 1)

Day 4: 20 mins on cross trainer
Eccentric Hamstring curl (as day 2)

Day 5: Training as normal (was a gym session for me)

Day 6: 10 x 80m strides with walk back recovery

Day 7: Rest

Day 8: Resume full training.

Obviously if yours is more serious than the one i had you will need to give it a little more time before you start doing the running work, but you mention that you have run on it quite soon after you feel it go, then you need to do some rehab, and probably follow the above for 2 weeks. Build up your confidence with it again and don't push it too hard too early. It will need time to heal properly.

Give me a call if you want to talk about it at all as i will be happy to chat to you through my experience with it!

Hope you are well anyway.

Cheers

D

[sadiemk]

pulled me hamstring, from not warming up before kicking a ball as hard as a could to measure how fast i could kick it kicked it 50mph which was good but my leg wasnt still hurts i can still throw with it but how can i make it better

[lifebeginsat40]

Well, not sure about getting it better. But don`t do stupid things like kicking a ball competition, and potentially ruining your season!

Dad

[ironbrew]

On the subject of hamstring one of the most likely causes of hamstring pulls is a quad/hamstring strength imbalance, i.e. the action of kicking a football requires a massive contraction of the quad, the hamstring need to balance this to prevent injury, if there is an imbalance in strength damage results. Idealy a ratio of 1 to 1 would be perfect but difficult to achieve but you should be looking for the hamstring to be around at least 80% of the quad strength. As mentioned earlier straight leg deadlifts (romanian deadlift) plus good mornings are excellent exercises for developing specific hamstring strength. Before that can begin Rehab must start ASAP other wise scar tissue will form, R.I.C.E for the first 24 hours is a good start. A good Physio will speed the recovery, if thats not possible as in Lashers rehab prog gentle exercise to start gets the blood flowing and starts the healing process, listen to your body build it up slowly. A simple hamstring exercise that can be done at home is Single Leg hip raises - lay on the floor with both legs raised and resting on coffee table or something similar, the knee of injured leg should be slightly bent the other leg is straight, now using the injured leg raise the hips as high as possible while keeping the uninjured leg straight and off the table lower hips back to floor and repeat for 6 to 8 reps 3 sets don't forget to do the unijured leg. Once you are pain free include some serious hamstring work in your training.