Category: Injury Physiotherapy

Hamstring strains

Hamstring Strains

Hamstring muscle strains are among the most common lower limb injuries in sports, accounting for 22% of injuries in AFL and ranking within the top three for lower limb injuries in the NRL. In professional soccer, hamstring injuries are a leading cause of missed games, with 20% of players sidelined from matches or training due to these injuries.

Of particular concern is the high recurrence rate of hamstring injuries, with increased severity of each subsequent hamstring strain, resulting in longer rehab periods and delayed return to sport.

So, what is the typical recovery time for a hamstring strain? And more importantly, what strategies can be employed to mitigate the risk of these injuries?

Risk factors for hamstring injury

  1. Lack of strength

    One of the major risk factors for hamstring strains is a lack of strength and power needed to meet the demands of your sport.

Your hamstring strength should be equal to the strength of your quads. This strength is crucial in performing the rapid accelerations, decelerations, and change of direction movements required in field sports. Additionally, it is essential for executing actions such as kicking a soccer ball to a teammate across the field, picking up an AFL ball while in motion, or performing a sweep hit in hockey.

Strength preparation is best completed in the off season when the physical demands of training are reduced, and a strength program needs to be completed for a minimum of 8 weeks to yield results.

Exercises that put the hamstrings under strain while they are at their maximum length will adequately prepare them for sport.

Some examples of these are;
– Nordic curls
– Deadlifts
– Prone hamstring curls

2. Fatigue

Another significant risk factor for injury is fatigue.
One method to mitigate this is through participating in a preseason program focusing on fitness and skill training to ensure you are going into the season at optimal fitness levels. However, managing fatigue during a game is also crucial. Strategies include scheduling regular subs, rotating player positions to lower overall intensity, or reducing game minutes if fatigue levels are increased before a match. 

Effective management of fatigue requires a good awareness of fatigue signs in your body, along with open communication with coaches and teammates.

3. History of injury

Unfortunately, if you have experienced hamstring strains in the past, this will increase your chances of repeat strains. If you suspect a hamstring strain, getting early assessment and commencement of a rehab program is vital.
Hamstring rehab typically progresses through structured phases aimed at facilitating muscle repair, enhancing muscle strength, and preparing the hamstring for specific sporting demands.
This final phase is particularly critical but often overlooked in rehabilitation plans, focusing on reintegrating activities like running, explosive strength exercises, game-specific skills, and contact training.

How long will it take me to return to sport after a hamstring strain?

This will depend on the level of injury, your history of injury, and the level of activity you wish to return to, but an average return to sport timeframe will be between 2 – 8 weeks.


Phase 1: pain management and supporting healing
Phase 2: Strength
Phase 3: Power
Phase 4: running
Phase 5: change of direction and light skills
Phase 6: Increase running speed, agility and intro of light contact
Phase 7: Integration back in to training

You will be guided through these phases by your physio and return to sport will be determined on a number of return to sport tests.

How to Manage Niggles

How to Manage Niggles

Persistent niggles that linger throughout a sports season are common. There are strategies for managing that can help you through the remainder of a season, as well as addressing them during the offseason to prevent their recurrence the following year.

Minor injuries, or “niggles,” might not be severe enough to stop you from playing, but they often become more noticeable as the season progresses. You may start to feel them earlier in games, notice them longer after games, or find yourself avoiding certain activities during training or daily life. When is the right time to start taking these signs seriously?

Niggles should be addressed as soon as you start to notice them. When you start to feel pain or discomfort, it’s your body’s way of telling you there is an imbalance between training load and your body’s tolerance. If this is addressed early on, there are some simple strategies you can employ to allow the body to recover, and avoid too much disruption to your training.
Some ways you can modify load when feeling a niggle are;

  • Reduce playing minutes in a game
  • Rotate positions throughout a game to allow recovery within a game
  • Change the surfaces you’re training on
    Eg. Run on grass instead of concrete, or vary the shoes you train in
  • Increase the amount of recovery your are completing
    Eg. prioritise sleep and nutrition, increase mobility, prioritise rehab exercises, strategies such as ice, compression, resting throughout the day
  • Modify training sessions by replacing more intense drills/game scenarios with rehab exercises or skill practise

There are plenty of ways to still be involved in training and to focus on performance, whilst allowing the body to recover from overload.

How do we avoid niggles?


If you participate in sport, niggles are inevitable. The unpredictability of intensity and load in games makes it difficult to completely prepare. However as mentioned above, niggles can be managed so that they don’t result in missed games. And more importantly, adequate preparation leading into a season will significantly reduce the incidence and severity of these niggles.

How do we prepare?


1. Strength
2. Fitness
3. Skill and game practise

  1. Strength happens in the offseason, when training loads are lower and there is more time for your body to recover.
    To allow maximal strength gain, exercises need to be heavy and challenging. There should be a large focus on technique, and movements should replicate those that are apparent in your sport.
    For example, running requires high levels of calf strength, therefore an off season running strength program should involve a number of variations of heavy calf raises.
    A swimming or water polo off season program will involve lots of overhead shoulder strengthening exercises.
    And contact sports such as rugby or AFL will involve lots of core strength, and explosive power-based exercises to reduce the incidence of concussions and to prepare the body for contact.

2. Fitness
Will often occur in a pre-season block. This helps the body prepare for the amount of running volume that occurs within a season, and ensures the body can withstand the length of the season. Pre-season fitness programs will often replicate plays in a game, eg. 50m sprints for rugby winger, or short sharp 15m sprints for a netball wing attack. Or they will target the energy systems needed to complete an event eg. anaerobic fitness for a 200m track sprint, or aerobic fitness for a triathlon.

3. Skill and game practise will occur as the season approaches, to ensure the body is prepared for the specific movements and demands of the sport.

 

There a plenty of ways to manage niggles and still be involved in training and play.

Physiotherapy for Knee Injuries

Knee Physiotherapy Sutherland Shire

 

The knee is a hinge joint – yep think of it like the hinge of a door. With a simple purpose: to bend (flex) or straighten (extend)! ⁠While this explanation is simple, there are a lot of structures, including bones, ligaments, cartilage, muscles and more that make up this joint!⁠ All of these structures have a role in allowing the knee to function optimally, so we can walk , run , kick and dance! 

Almost 20% of people experience knee pain in their life-time and this proportion increases with age! But knee pain isn’t isolated to just our senior athletes… with a recent study showing that 1 in 4 athletes suffer from pain in the front of the knee, with 70% being between the ages of 16-24 !⁠

⁠Following a knee injury, people will often notice “weakness” in the muscles around their knee, in particular in their quads! Arthrogenic muscle inhibition (AMI) is a response from your body to prevent full activation of the muscles in an injured area… ⁠

⁠Research has found that swelling is a big factor in AMI, even without pain or damage to the knee. As little as, 10mL of swelling can reduce muscle activation and 20-60mL can reduce quadriceps activation by 40%!⁠

⁠Now you can see why your physio is so focused on reducing swelling in your knee!⁠

Contact Fit and Flow physiotherapy today or read more about our knee and general musculoskeletal physiotherapy. 

Knee Physiotherapy Sydney