What is a Hamstring Strain?
A hamstring strain is a hamstring injury, it is just being more specific using medical terminology. The word strain is used to describe an injury to the muscle, in this case tearing of the hamstring muscle fibers due to excessive force/stretching of the muscle fibers. Hamstring injuries occur most commonly in the terminal swing phase of the running cycle.
So where do you start with hamstring strains? Are you supposed to stretch? What about strengthening exercises and if so which ones should you start with? Great question! Let's address the stretching question - one of the biggest risk factors for hamstring strains and re-injury rates is a decrease in hamstring flexibility and reduced extensibility. This diminished flexibility of the muscle-tendon unit is often due to residual scar tissue. While the eccentric control of the hamstrings is vital in preventing hamstring strains, what good is all the eccentric strength in the world if the actual length and extensibility of the hamstrings is not optimal?
However, passive stretching after an acute hamstring strain is something you don't want to jump into for many reasons. Remember, a hamstring strain is a result of muscle fibers being over-stretched and torn. You don't want to overstretch an injured tissue, which is easy to do with passive stretching (and trust us it won't feel good either)! With that being said, gently stretching an injured muscle strain is feasible by taking advantage of reciprocal inhibition. Reciprocal inhibition describes the neurologic process of muscles on one side of a joint relaxing to accommodate a muscle contraction on the other side of that joint. In this case - we can relax the hamstrings and move through their available muscle flexibility by activating the quadriceps.
