Hamstring Muscular Tissue

Have you ever experience a hamstring strain? Do you know how unsafe it can be? One of the common groups of people to go through hamstring injuries, are athletes who indulge in sports that involve jumping and explosive sprinting. In addition of hamstring injuries, they can be very frustrating to deal and treat with. The hamstrings are composing of tendons that attach three large muscles, the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus. These three muscles helps one knee to bend and extend to his or her hip; however, when one or more of these muscles gets stretched too far and starts to tear, it may cause plenty of pain due to the pulled hamstring.

Hamstring Strains (HS) are identified by acute pain in the thigh with disruption of the muscle fibres, with 47% of all HS studies stating that the BF muscle is affected (3). This can be explained because the BF muscle tendon and muscle fibres are where the most common distribution of the ground force produced during running (3). Eccentric contraction is explained by a study from Guex (4) stating that between 75-85% of the running cycle the hamstrings are undergoing an active lengthening contraction. Having this amount of eccentric contraction upon the muscles has the potential to cause an overuse injury (4). At 85% of the running cycle, the SM, ST, and BF are stretched by 8.7-12.0% which is beyond their optimum lengths (4).

When Tampa Bay selected Doug Martin with the 31st pick in the 2012 NFL Draft they believed they’d found their running back for the next ten years. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for the Buccaneers. Martin showed glimpses of how talented he was, but will be remembered in Tampa for his injuries and PED use. Martin recently found a home with the Oakland Raiders where he will look for a fresh start under a familiar face, Jon Gruden.

Hip flexion/ Knee Extension; Hip extension/ Knee flexion. Major muscles involved include the quadriceps, the inner thigh, the hamstrings and gluteal region. Also, leg strength in the calve muscles is important.

What is a hamstring strain? According to Mayo Clinic, "A hamstring strain is a sharp pain that occurs up the back of your leg, also known as your hamstring." Swelling and tenderness will begin to appear within a few hours, however, bruising is a common experience within a strain, additionally not being able to apply weight onto the injured leg. You can treat a strain at home. Nevertheless, you should visit a doctor when if it grows unbearable to walk on your injured leg.

Hamstring will be very active when doing activities that demand a person to bend the legs, such as running, jumping, and climbing. Doing these activities will increase the risk of a pulled hamstring. To minimize the risk of a pulled hamstring, muscle stretching

Hamstring strains have been one of the most common injuries around the world. Unfortunately, there has been a limited amount of success reducing the rate of this injury (Schmit, 2012). Although many researchers and doctors have studied the cause of hamstring strains, there are still many theories as to why they occur. One theory includes that there is an imbalance between the medial and lateral hamstring muscle that leads to hamstring muscle fatigue (Prentice, 2015). Hamstring strains are painful and prevalent in different types of activities. Most commonly these strains can be found in athletes that engage in running, skating, jumping sliding, kicking, and quick/fast motions (Valle, 2015).

The number one component in the treatment of a strain is time and rest. The athlete must be prepared and patient to take the necessary time and rest to let the hamstring heal correctly for the long-term. Immediately after the injury occurs the athlete should focus on the R.I.C.E protocol. R.IC.E. stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. For the first day or two depending on the severity of the strain, the muscle should be iced for 10 to 15 minutes every hour then wrapped in compression. In the first few days, ibuprofen may be taken to help reduce the pain and the swelling. The ice and compression will help control swelling and bleeding if present. If more action is needed, elevation can be used to also help reduce swelling. After this stage is complete, the athlete can then began to apply heat to the muscle for up to twenty minutes. The heat will help to relax the biceps femoris, and will also increase blood flow. Another option at this time of the recovery is massaging the

Many people have stronger quadriceps than hamstrings because they are easier to work than hamstrings (Zirm). The best way for athletes to avoid pulling or tearing a hamstring is to balance everything. Make sure everything is working the same amount. If someone works legs today they are not just going to work their quads because their calves, glutes, and hamstrings will not have the same amount of strength. That will then cause the other muscles to work harder than the quads. That will then eventually lead to an injury that will take someone out of their sport for about six to eight weeks.

Hamstring strain injuries are one of the most common sport related injuries involving high speed, kicking movements (Marc. A., et al 2004). Despite there being evidence that hamstring strains occur at both stages of movements; the early stance phase where the muscle absorbs the most force as a result of high ground reaction and the late swing phase, the hamstrings eccentrically contract to absorb the kinetic energy and slow the lower limb putting the hamstrings under a large amount of stress (Schmitt. B., et al 2012)

The Effects of Different Stretching Techniques on Myosin and Actin Fibers and How it Affects Athletic Performance

It is an exceptionally regular confusion that if hamstrings feel tight, they should be short and needing extending .The individual will then continue in extending them, and ask why they continue feeling tight notwithstanding their earnest attempts.

When you get the strong tendon and its outstretched it will be in a lot of stress so it can return to it’s original state.

All athletes in both groups followed a general rehabilitation program for three times per week if a subject-specific progression was observed. The athletes progress in the rehabilitation if he could perform the general program without pain, which included 10 minutes stationary cycling, fast foot stepping in place, jogging for 40 meters with short strides and forward-backward acceleration. The main result of this study is that the time needed to return was significantly shorter in the L-protocol (mean 49 days) compared to C-protocol (mean 86 days). The re-injury was occurred in two athletes in the C-protocol and no injury was recorded in the L-protocol during one-year follow-up periods. The authors concluded that eccentric exercises program is more effective than conventional protocol in rehabilitation of acute hamstring

- Adding trunk stability exercises to the rehablitation programe of hamestring injury seems to improve the recovery periode of injured hamestring. In addition, it has better valu to reduce the time of return to sport than the classic programe that include just strengthing and streching exercises.