Hamstring injuries

Any hamstring injuries are painful and can set an athlete back when they’re least expecting it.

In sports that involve a lot of running at high intensity like sprinting, soccer or basketball, hamstring injuries will often occur.

At some point or another, we’ve all seen an athlete suddenly stopping and clutching the back of their leg in agony and this will often be the result of a hamstring injury.

The hamstrings are the muscles that run from the pelvis down to the lower legs and are worked hard when an athlete is moving around quickly.

Hamstring injuries normally occur because athletes haven’t warmed up for long enough or have tried to push themselves beyond what their body is capable of. Pulls and tears of the hamstring muscle can also be the result of a lack of strength or flexibility in the area because of poor training methods.

To avoid hamstring injuries, an athlete must do a long and thorough warm up and remember to stretch. It’s also advisable to slowly build up performance instead of trying to improve in a short amount of time.

Athletes should also dedicate training time specifically to improving flexibility and strength in the back of the legs.

We go into greater detail about hamstring injuries in the articles listed below.