Hamstring Strains in Soccer

Portugal’s Eduardo Quaresma in action with England’s Omari Hutchinson Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

A player is 2.5 times more likely to sustain a hamstring strain injury (HSI) than a quadriceps injury, and the incidence of HSIs in training and matches has increased annually since 2001^(1–3). To address the chronically high injury rate, clinicians must audit the injuries that are taking place. Then, they can understand the extent of the problem and establish the etiology and mechanisms before introducing preventative measures (see figure 1)⁽⁴⁾. 

Definitions

Training	Team training session under the supervision of coaching staff.
Match	Competitive or friendly match against another team.
Injury	Physical complaint sustained during training or a match that resulted in the player being unable to take full part in future training or matches.
Severity	The number of days the player is unable to train or play between the injury date and the date of clearance for return to play.
Recurrent injury	Injury of the same type and the same site as a previous injury.
Early recurrence	Recurrent injury that occurs within 2 months after full return to play.
Injury incidence	Number of injuries per 1000 player hours.
Injury severity
Minimal	1-3 days.
Mild	4-7days.
Moderate	8-28 days.
Severe	>28 days.

Number of injuries per 1000 player hours. Researchers from Linköping University in Sweden found that the incidence of match-related HSIs was stable between 2001/2002 and 2013/2014, with the training injury incidence increasing annually by 4%. From 2014/2015 until 2021/2022, the incidence and burden of HSIs sustained during training and matches increased significantly. Further analysis indicates alarming increases from 12% in 2001/2002 to 24% in 2021/2022, with the overall increase over 21 years being 19%. Additionally, HSIs accounts for 14% of total layoff days, with a median duration of 13 days (ranging from 7 to 22 days). The injury incidence for matches is 10 times higher than that of training. Finally, 18% of all the HSIs are recurrent, and 69% occur early post-return (see table 2).