The Hamstrings: Why they get injured and what they are really meant to do.

I originally wrote this post a little while ago, while footballer Jack Rodwell was still playing for Everton. Since then,  there have been a few changes in Jack's career, most notably, a big money move to Manchester City. What has not changed however is the recurring hamstring injuries he is continuing to suffer from. Even a trip to the famous rehab  specialist Dr Müller-Wohlfahrt has not helped. Looks like the physio and rehab specialists at both Man City and Everton have not read my blog yet. The real shame is however, that these types of injuries are still all too common in football as well as other team sports, players are being continually let down by rehab, medical and conditioning staff who still have a very old school idea of what the hamstrings do during a football match or upright function in general.

So with these injuries fresh in the minds of all football fans on Merseyside, Manchester and the whole of the UK, maybe this is an ideal time to repost this blog and share with you some of the thoughts and ideas on how we might look and aim to treat a hamstring injuries and ultimately prevent them from reoccurring.

In order for us to prevent or treat a hamstring injury, we need to know what the muscle does. Throughout my university degree and personal training and sports injury therapy courses I was taught that the main job of the hamstrings is to flex the knee joint.

Although this is true when sitting or lying down, when walking, running or playing football THE HAMSTRING DO NOT FLEX THE KNEE! In fact, they do the exact opposite and act as knee extensor; it's actually gravity that flexes the knee and not our hamstrings.

In the video below Gary Gray mentions that the hamstrings are probably the most important muscle in human locomotion, they are responsible for decelerating motion in every plane, during every step, twist or turn.

As I have mentioned in the last article in the series, just like the knee, the hamstring are also an area that gets bullied and has to pick up the slack to help out other muscles and joints around them that are not functioning the way they should.

So with this in mind then, in the case of Jack Rodwell it would be a good idea to start looking at other areas of the body that may be working sub-optimally and putting the hamstrings under greater stress to increase injury risk in this area.

During the video Gary mentions, problems with foot, hip or thoracic spine function will put extra pressure on the hamstrings and possibly make a player more venerable and increase the risk of hamstring injuries.

I apologise for the complex answer, but while researching this article I came across this amazing video by a highly qualified Physiotherapist and "The Father of Function" Gary Gray, who explains this a lot more eloquently than I ever could:

So now we have a slightly better understanding of what the hamstrings actually do and what could potentially cause a hamstring injury, below are my top tips on what you should and should not be doing to help rehab and condition your hamstrings and prevent injuries:

* The hamstrings DO NOT flex the knee so get off those leg curl machines; they will only make the muscle shorter and tighter, actually de-conditioning the muscle for football.

* Avoid static or PNF stretching. There are no scenarios on a football field where you have to hold your muscles in an extended state for any length of time. In fact, recent evidence suggests that stretching your muscles in this way might de-train the nervous system and limit the ability of your muscles to load effectively and pull you out of a dangerous situation.
Dynamic stretching is much more effective: Moving your muscles into a lengthened state and coming straight back out of the movement prepares them much better for the demands of football.

Check out the video in my running blog (click here) these dymanic mobility exercises are designed for running but can be easily tweaked and adapted to help football players and participants of other sports

* Train as specific as possible to football. Come away from machines or any device that puts artificial loads on the body. As a basic rule free weights are better as they will load your muscles more closely to how they work on the field.

* Move in all three planes at a variety of speeds. Football is a multi-planer, dynamic game that is not played in straight lines. Your training should involve twisting, turning and side to side movements that stress the hamstring in ways it would be stressed during a match. Where possible try to make these movements as reactive and random as you can.

I hope you enjoyed the article guys. As always, please leave a comment to tell me what you think or alternatively, please contact me by email: darren@synergyhealthstudios.co.uk, or Phone: 07834616197 with any questions or queries you may have.