First, let’s define what a hamstring strain is. A strain is a stretch or tear of a muscle or tendon. People often call such an injury a “pulled” muscle.

Your hamstring muscle group is in the back of your thigh and allows you to bend your knee. It is made up of three large muscles: the biceps femoris, Semimembranosus, and Semitendinosus.

A hamstring muscle strain usually occurs when these muscles are contracted forcefully during activities such as running, jumping, or kicking with ballistic movement. You will often feel a burning or a popping as the injury occurs. You will have pain when walking or when bending or straightening your leg. A few days later after the injury, you may have bruising on the area just below the injury, not on the injury site. There is usually point tenderness along the muscle belly and can even be pain at the areas of insertion or origin of the tendon.

Warming up properly and stretching your hamstrings before and after an activity best prevents a hamstring strain. Remember, when stretching you should never bounce into the stretch as this will cause the muscle to fire off and contract against the stretch. This is especially important in such activities mentioned above.

Treatment may include:

The goal of rehabilitation is to teach you the proper techniques to isolate the

hamstring muscle into groups so each one may be strengthened individually. Modalities such as electric stimulation, ultrasound, and massage may also be implemented to promote tissue healing.

If you return to your activity too soon it can result in permanent damage. Everyone recovers from injury at a different rate, and not by the number of days or weeks it has been since your injury occurred.

Feel free to stop in Advanced Physical Therapy and ask our qualified staff any questions we can help you with.