Preventing the dreaded hamstring injury

We have all witnessed a scenario where a player is sprinting down the wing and suddenly, he grabs his thigh, hobbles, and then falls to the ground. Most of the time in this scenario, the athlete has strained his hamstring. The hamstrings which comprise three muscles called semitendinosus, semimembranosus and bicep femoris, are the most frequently injured muscle in soccer. Some of our favourite footballers sometimes get side-lined for a few weeks due to hamstring injuries. This shows that even with the best training and conditioning, there is still an increased risk of straining your hamstring when playing football.

In my opinion, modern-day football has increased in physical intensity, putting the body under more strain, which results in more injuries occurring, therefore players and coaches should do as much as possible to decrease the risk of straining the hamstring.

The injury mechanism

Hamstring injuries usually occur due to direct trauma to the muscle (knock to the thigh) or indirect mechanism such as musculature overuse or overextension of the leg. Hamstring injuries normally occur in explosive movements when the muscle is under great strain. Speaking out of experience, one of the biggest mistakes players make is playing in a state of fatigue. The musculature around the legs hasn’t had time to fully recover, so by sprinting we are placing the muscle under a lot of strain, which increases the risk of a hamstring injuries. Coaches are encouraged to pay attention to the fatigue of their players to decrease the players’ risk of muscle injuries and allow for maximal recovery after intense training sessions or games.

How to decrease your risk of a hamstring injury:

1. Adequate warm-ups before training and games. The advantages of a good warm up routine allow for adequate blood circulation and temperature of muscles, which prepares the muscle for high loads during training and games. An adequate warm-up reduces the risk of injuries and prepares the athlete’s body for sport-specific movements.

2. Increased endurance ability. Players need to improve their aerobic and anaerobic capacity/ endurance. A well-trained player can complete explosive movements and sprints for longer without feeling fatigued. Implementing high intensity sprints in a recovered and fatigued state has shown to improve repeated sprinting capacity, which in return reduces the risk of injury.

3. Plyometric training. Plyometric training is also known as jump training. These are exercises in which muscles exert maximal force in a short time. This type of exercise helps to increase your explosiveness and power. To reduce the risk of hamstring injury, this training modality prepares players for explosive football specific movements.

4. Mobility and flexibility. This part of training is normally neglected. A regular and good stretching routine can be very beneficial for a player. Stretching improves the range of motion of the joints, reduces likelihood of movement restriction and reduces risk of muscular injury.

5. Core stabilisation training. A well-trained core forms the basis for any dynamic movements that normally occur during football specific movements. Training your core leads to improved muscular activation patterns and reduces muscle tension.

6. Strength training. Strength training helps to decrease risk of injury, enables the player to better control his/her body and allows for more powerful movements. To reduce the risk of hamstring injuries it’s with great importance to add strengthening exercises to your training regime.

Below is my favourite injury prevention hamstring exercises.

1 Nordic curls 2 Elevated hip lifts 3 Swiss ball kicks 4 Hamstring slides

There are multiple factors that can influence the risk of injury therefore coaches should adapt a multimodal training intervention to help players recover optimally and to reduce the risk of injuries.

‘Prevention is better than cure’

PREVENTION: Athletes must stretch and strengthen their hamstrings to avoid picking up injuries.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not intend to substitute professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek medical advice for any injury you might have.