Conditions and treatments
Hamstrings Injuries
Hamstrings
Harmstrings are a group of muscles that run from the buttock to the knee through the back of your thigh: semitendinosus, biceps femoris, semimembranosus. Working as a group, they contribute to hip extension and knee flexion. These muscles have three parts: tendons (which connects them to the bones), myotendinous portion, muscle belly. An injury may occur in any of these, being the healing and prognosis affected by its location.
What causes a hamstrings tear?
They are mostly activated when you extend your hip or flex or knee, contributing to gait cycle during walking and running. So in any sudden extreme movements like a slip, or in overload they might rupture. Nevertheless, most commonly they tear when you accelerate and suddenly break, or when you slip and do the splits. Also, some factors might contribute to a higher risk of injury, such as:
• Greater training volume or improper warm-up
• Poor hamstring and quadriceps muscle flexibility
• Poor muscle strength
• Muscle imbalance
• Muscle fatigue that leads to overexertion
What are the symptoms and how is it diagnosed?
Most often, the person experiences intense pain on the back of the thigh, being its location related to the level of the tear. Depending on the location, size and level of pain, walking capacity is impaired, and sometimes you might not be even able to sit. Within days, the pain may subside, but lack of power and an hematoma may develop. Diagnosis is established through imaging exams (MRI, ultra-sound) to characterise the tear.
How is it treated?
Treatment and recovery time depends on the location, size, pattern and daily life/sports activity demands. Most injuries are treated without the need of surgery (conservative treatment), except for tendon avulsions.
Conservative treatment involves pain management, and a specific rehabilitation programme to insure the risk of scar tissue and retear may be minimised. A multidisciplinary team analyses the tear’s characteristics, and builds up a staged programme based on tissue healing time and your individual progress during each stage.
In tendon avulsions where surgery is indicated, the tendon(s) are reattached to their origin, to make sure proper function is regained. After it, a staged and individualised programme will be developed to optimise you lower limb activity to its best.
