Prehabilitation: Hamstring

One of the most frustrating injuries for any athlete to overcome is the hamstring strain. A strain can occur anywhere in the muscle but most commonly lesions can be found near the musculotendinous junction of the muscle/tendon unit. This is due to several factors. Two of the most important factors are inefficient recruitment patterns of the lumbopelvic (lumbopelvic core) musculature in gait and the accumulation of scar tissue in vulnerable areas of the muscle due to injury.

These two factors can be independent factors but often work together to cause injury and reinjury. It is not uncommon, for example, for a distance runner to have weak hip stabilizers, causing stress along the distal aspect of biceps femoris and the iliotibial band due to over reliance on gluteus maximus and tensor fasciae latae or for a field hockey player to experience to experience pain in her proximal left biceps femoris due to her right hip flexors being locked short. Once these patterns lead to injury, the accumulation of scar tissue near the musculotendinous junctions by itself make these points vulnerable to reinjury but may also interfere with the proprioceptors in the region possibly reinforcing and exaggerating the patterns that caused the injury in the first place.

Taking action before an injury occurs (prehabilitation) is always your best option. Appropriate core training and warm-up for the sport (which crosses a wide spectrum of training from weight training through plyometrics and active warm-ups) can strengthen the necessary structures and prevent overdependence on patterns that cause hamstring injuries. Manual therapy to open and loosen the muscle and break down the accumulation of scar tissue and resolve adhesion may also decrease the probability of injury. Once an injury has been incurred, both these procedures become important to the rehabilitation process as well.

If you want to know more about your specific hamstring injury and how to heal it more effectively, please schedule an appointment by visiting www.soarbody.com.