For any track athlete, sustaining a hamstring injury is an absolute nightmare.
Track athletes can suffer from severely debilitating hamstring injuries, such as strains, tears, or tweaks, which unfortunately are among the most frequently occurring injuries in the sport.
This is due to the extensive use of hamstrings in track and field events. The hamstrings play a crucial role in the hip and knee movements involved in sprinting, jumping, running, and walking. Activities that require maximum speed, such as sprinting, place a particularly strong strain on the hamstrings.
What are the Hamstrings? And what do they do?
The hamstrings are comprised of three distinct muscles found in the back of the thigh, consisting of the Biceps Femoris with its short and long heads, the Semimembranosis, and the Semitendinosis.
The muscle groups in question go across both the knee joint and hip joint. Because of this, these muscles are vital for extending the hip and flexing the knee. They also have a critical role in stabilizing the knee joint while in motion.
What factors increase the chance of hamstring injury?
There can be several factors that lead to hamstring injuries.
Age and pre-existing injuries, which cannot be modified, do have an influence on the likelihood of experiencing a hamstring injury. Specifically, individuals with prior ankle injuries have a significantly higher risk of encountering a hamstring injury on the same leg as their ankle injury.
Factors that can be modified include elements of your training or physical condition, which can be altered in order to reduce the likelihood of experiencing a hamstring injury.
Some of the factors that are included are:
lack of flexibility
Lack of sufficient muscle strength and/or endurance
The absence of agility training results in the occurrence of dyssynergic muscle contraction.
Inadequate warm-up and stretching prior to engaging in physical activity.
Inefficient body mechanics while running.
Resume physical activity prior to full recovery from a previous injury.
In order to avoid these factors, it is often advisable to incorporate different stretching routines or extra exercises into your usual training. If you want to enhance flexibility and warm up your body, take a look at these warm up drills. To improve your agility, engage in ladder workouts and hurdle drills. Lastly, if you are interested in strengthening your body, continue reading.
What causes most hamstring injury?
In a general sense, hamstring injuries typically happen when there is swift transitioning between positions that demand forceful contraction and put strain on the hamstring. When sprinting, the athlete needs to swiftly switch between eccentric and concentric contractions in the stretch-shortening cycle.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that muscle strain is caused by an excessive amount of strain during eccentric contraction, and the severity of an injury is influenced by the speed and duration of muscle elongation.
Therefore, most cases of hamstring injuries arise when an athlete is running at or near their top speed.
Internal tearing can occur when the tendons, joints, ligaments, and muscles at the back of the thigh are overburdened by the forces exerted on the contracted hamstring while attempting to extend it. This often happens when there is abrupt deceleration following a sprint, highlighting the importance of gradually reducing speed after such intense activity.
The main cause of hamstring muscle injuries is the power and strength imbalances between antagonistic muscle pairs.
Exercises To Do to Avoid Injury:
Neglecting hamstring injuries will result in their persistence. Ceasing to run alone will not resolve the issue; it is necessary to identify the underlying cause of hamstring pain.
Multiple sports studies have demonstrated that incorporating agility and flexibility into strength training can lead to a reduction in hamstring injuries among sprinters. This holistic approach to training enables the body to better acclimate to the intense muscle contractions experienced during maximum velocity running.
It is equally important to focus on both concentric and eccentric movements to enhance the muscles in the back of the thigh.
MARCHING WITH STRAIGHT LEGS
Extend one leg in front of you, toes pointing upwards. Stretch your opposite arm towards your toes. Bring down the leg and repeat the movement with the other leg. Repeat this sequence for a minimum of 10 repetitions.
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Start by lying on your belly, extending your arms and flexing your feet. Proceed to kick your right foot towards your left arm, followed by kicking your left foot towards your right arm. It is recommended to start slowly and gradually increase the number of repetitions to a maximum of 12 on each side. Pay attention to the form while performing this exercise, ensuring that your chest remains in contact with the floor and the counter leg remains immobile.
How many sets and reps of these hamstring exercises should you perform?
Nordic Hamstring Curls
Research indicates that performing only two sets of five repetitions, twice a week, of nordic hamstring curls can greatly decrease the likelihood of experiencing hamstring injuries. This effectiveness is most likely due to the exercise’s ability to mimic the intense eccentric strain that the hamstrings endure while sprinting.
You are welcome to increase your volume if desired. Initially, I recommend performing two sets of five repetitions twice a week, and eventually progressing to three sets of 8-12 reps, twice a week.
Romanian Deadlifts
Performing Romanian deadlifts is an effective approach to enhancing both hamstring flexibility and strength while carrying a load. These exercises also allow for significant weight to be added to the bar, contributing to the development of your overall strength.
To begin, I suggest initiating with two sessions per week consisting of three sets of ten repetitions. As you advance, gradually enhance the weight and strive to work at an RPE of 8.
Single-leg Romanian Deadlifts
The single leg RDL, similar to Romanian deadlifts, effectively isolates each leg and delivers a comparable impact, albeit with a slight variation. If you tend to favor one side during conventional deadlifts, the discrepancy will be unmistakable when performing this exercise.
Is it dangerous to practice hamstring exercises with heavy weights?
Lifting heavy to target your hamstrings is safe. Like any form of weight training, start with a lighter weight for your first one or two sets as a warm-up, then proceed to your three working sets. These working sets should be done at the weight we previously discussed, which is sufficient for you to reach an RPE 8.
Engaging in weightlifting and building strength helps minimize the chances of injuries for athletes. By regularly lifting heavy weights, you can enhance your body’s capacity to handle intense loads, similar to the ones encountered when performing high-speed movements in your respective sport, hobby, or activity.
Why does lifting weights help reduce hamstring injury risk?
Engaging in repetitive weightlifting places strain on the musculotendinous unit, which is responsible for attaching muscles to bones. As a result, this triggers the process of protein synthesis, leading to the development of additional muscle tissue in the targeted muscles.
As you develop additional muscle tissue and it increases in size, there is also an accumulation of additional connective tissue. Muscles with larger fibers, capable of generating more force, possess a greater number of crossbridges and exhibit reinforced connective tissue, resulting in a stronger muscle capable of enduring greater force.
Apart from the muscle’s physical alterations, there are also advantages in terms of physiology. Regularly subjecting your muscle to contracting at maximum capacity or near-maximum capacity will enhance its tolerance towards such activity.
Weekend warriors frequently injure themselves due to their lack of regular exercise, absence of warm-up routines, and their muscles’ unfamiliarity with the powerful strain they are subjected to.
Engaging in weightlifting at least two times per week is likely to decrease the chances of injuries among individuals who only participate in physical activities on weekends.
Therefore, make sure to prioritize going to the gym and doing your hamstring exercises, as you will be grateful to me when you can run to first base without experiencing excruciating pain.
