A hamstring injury is a strain or tear to the tendon or group of three muscles at the back of the thigh and can occur when overused or taken beyond its normal range of movement.
There are three grades of injury are:
Grade 1 – Mild muscle pull or strain
Grade 1 injuries will usually cause a sudden pain and tender area at the back of the thigh to be felt but there shouldn’t be any loss of strength in the muscle.
Grade 2 – Partial muscle tear
Grade 2 injuries will usually be painful and tender. You may also experience some swelling and bruising at the injury area on the back of the thigh and some strength may be lost in the affected leg.
Grade 3 – Complete muscle tear
Grade 3 injuries will usually be very painful and tender with swelling and bruising. It will not be possible to place any weight through the affected leg.
Recovery times depend on the severity of the injury. For example, a Grade 1 injury might take a few days to heal whereas Grade 2 or 3 could take several weeks or months.
Sports Massage can help with recovery from hamstring injury by reducing the pain that is experienced, reduce any swelling around the injured area, help improve the injury healing faster by decreasing any muscular tension that is felt on the injured side and carry out further work on any muscular adhesions as the muscle repairs so that you can return to normal activities sooner.
Adhesions are how the body repairs damage to the muscle using collagen and are laid down in an irregular pattern. This pattern can limit the muscles range of movement so therefore can restrict what activities you are able to carry out. Using certain techniques, Sports Massage can help be used to reduce these adhesions which enable the muscle to return to resume its normal movement pattern.
If you have experienced any post run soreness, pain or injury then please contact me for further information.
Below are screen prints detailing hamstring injuries and how to help recover from the injury. Downloadable PDF documents can be found here.
The information contained within this post is solely for general information only. If you do pick up an injury (including 'tightness' 'irritation' or 'niggle') that you’re worried about then the sooner it’s treated the better. Please contact me using one of the methods below if you would like to discuss how I can help you move with ease.
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Website: www.bodybalancesportsmassage.co.uk
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