With outdoor soccer season right around the corner, we’d like to highlight hamstring injury management. While injury prevention strategies do work, hamstring strains are still one of the most common soccer injuries and are not always avoidable. If you haven’t run or played soccer at all this winter, it is recommended that you start with small, controlled bouts of running and build up the intensity over time.

 

If you do experience a sudden pain in the back of your leg with running or kicking, it may indicate a hamstring strain. Although recovery time can vary between individuals, most hamstring injuries recover within a 6–12-week timeline, depending on the severity of the injury. 

 Physiotherapy can help guide rehabilitation for a successful return to sport. With a thorough assessment, we can develop a personalized exercise program with progressions to help get you back on the pitch faster, and prevent your hamstring from becoming a chronic problem. Rehab can be broken down into three components. In the early stages, we want to control swelling and promote weightbearing as normally as possible. Following this, the focus shifts to increasing flexibility and strength of the hamstrings. The final step in the rehabilitation process is guiding your return to sport with sport-specific exercises.

Exercises often begin with light bridging or elevated bridging, and can progress to more difficult exercises such as Nordic hamstring curls. End-stage rehabilitation exercises often include plyometric, sport specific movements such as cutting with a soccer ball and sprinting drills.

In collaboration with your therapist, we will help determine your readiness for return to sport. Factors determining a successful return to sport include a resolution of pain, full movement, normal strength, and good tolerance to your sport specific activities.

If you injure your hamstring, it is never too soon to seek medical advice. As always, the team at Kamloops Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Centre are ready to assist in your rehab journey, and provide sport specific readiness through physiotherapy and kinesiology services.

This blog was written by Timothy Schmidt, MPT.  If you wish to book with Tim, call the clinic at (250) 314-0788 or click this link to see Tim’s availability on our online booking page:

 

 

Information was adapted from:

Martin et al: “Hamstring Strain Injury in Athletes” (J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2022;52(3):CPG1-CPG44. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2022.0301)

The Perspective for Patients can be found at https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2022.0502