How important is your hamstring?

Throughout my years of being a sprinter, I’ve realised that the most common injury most athletes face is a hamstring pull or tear.

So what exactly is a hamstring? Hamstring is a group of three muscles which are the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and the biceps femoris.

These muscles that run along the back of your thigh, from the hip to just below the knee helps us in various activities. From bending of our knee, running to jumping.

There are 3 different grades of a hamstring injury.

Grade 1 is a mild muscle pull or strain. It doesn’t have any sort of visible mark/ scar.
Grade 2 is a partial muscle tear which means that the muscle isn’t fully ruptured/ ripped.
Grade 3 is a complete muscle tear which leaves one with visible blue-black scars.

What sort of treatment is given for a hamstring strain?
To my knowledge, a minor or better known as moderate hamstring strains would usually heal by its own. You just need to give it some time before getting back into action.

In order to speed up the healing, the usual advice that will be given by any medical officers or physiotherapist is to follow the RICE concept as explained below:

• REST the leg. Avoid putting pressure on the leg as much as you can. If the pain is severe, you may need to get yourself crutches until it goes away. Ask your doctor or physical therapist if they're needed.
• Next is to continuously ICE your leg to reduce the pain and swelling from getting worse. Try to do it for about 20 minutes every two hours for about a week or so until the pain is gone.
• COMPRESS your leg. You can use an elastic bandage around the thigh to keep the swelling down.
• ELEVATE your leg on a pillow when you're sitting or heading to bed to make sure no fluid flows through that inflamed area because it can worsen the swelling more.

At this point in time, it is very important to focus on stretching and strengthening exercises. Strengthening the hamstrings is the other way of protecting it from a hamstring strain. Be sure to follow the recommendations of your physician if your strain is a grade 3 that required surgery.

In conclusion, below are some of the rehabilitation exercises that I’ve learned and I’m going to share that with you. 

Till then, love; Tana!