Medication
To speed the healing, you can:
- Rest the leg.
- Ice your leg to reduce pain and swelling.
- Compress your leg.
- Elevate your leg on a pillow when you’re sitting or lying down.
- Take anti-inflammatory painkillers.
- Practice stretching and strengthening exercises if your doctor/physical therapist recommends them.
Procedures
- Warm up prior to exercise. I recommend that you increase your normal warm up time. ...
- Cool down. After performing your exercise or activity, take the extra time to cool down and stretch. ...
- Initially avoid potential high risk activities. ...
- Regain full strength and motion before returning to sport. ...
Therapy
The Best Hamstring Exercises
- Romanian Deadlift. Step 1: Set a barbell on a rack at about hip level. ...
- Back Extension. Step 1: Adjust the pad on the back extension bench so that when you lie on it the top edge lines up with the crease in your ...
- Kettlebell Swing. ...
- Machine Lying Leg Curl. ...
- Glute-Ham Raise. ...
- Swiss-Ball Leg Curl. ...
- Slider Leg Curl. ...
- Bulgarian Split Squat. ...
- Walking Lunge. ...
Self-care
How to Treat a Pulled Muscle
- Elevate, compress, and ice it. The sooner you can get the pulled muscle above your heart, apply compression, and ice it, the better, Hamilton says.
- Avoid pain medications. Your first instinct about how to treat a pulled muscle might be to grab some ibuprofen. ...
- Watch for bruising. ...
- Don't stretch or roll it out. ...
- See a doctor. ...
- Take it easy. ...
Nutrition
See more
How long does it take a pulled hamstring to heal?
What can you do to help a pulled hamstring?
What are the best exercises for a pulled hamstring?
What are some home remedies for a pulled muscle?
How long does it take to heal pulled hamstrings?
Recovery from a hamstring tear or strain Mild to moderate (grade 1 or 2) tears or strains can heal within three to eight weeks with diligent home therapy. For a grade 3 hamstring tear or strain, recovery may be as long as three months.
What is the best thing to do for a pulled hamstring?
What's the Treatment for a Hamstring Strain?Rest the leg. ... Ice your leg to reduce pain and swelling. ... Compress your leg. ... Elevate your leg on a pillow when you're sitting or lying down.Take anti-inflammatory painkillers. ... Practice stretching and strengthening exercises if your doctor/physical therapist recommends them.
How do you know if you have a pulled hamstring?
What Are the Symptoms of a Hamstring Strain?pain in the back of your thigh when you bend or straighten your leg.tenderness, swelling, and bruising in the back of the thigh.weakness in your leg that lasts for a long time after the injury.
Is walking good for pulled hamstring?
Gentle exercises and stretches To avoid this, you should start doing gentle hamstring stretches after a few days, when the pain has started to subside. This should be followed by a programme of gentle exercise, such as walking and cycling, and hamstring strengthening exercises.
Should you massage a pulled hamstring?
Is Massage Good for Pulled Hamstring? Yes. Once the acute phase of healing is over, sports massage can be of great benefit.
Can a torn hamstring heal on its own?
Though these injuries can be very painful, they will usually heal on their own. However, for an injured hamstring to return to full function, it needs special attention and a specially designed rehabilitation program. When the hamstring is injured, the fibers of the muscles or tendon are actually torn.
How should I sleep with a pulled hamstring?
The best sleeping position for hamstring pain, which affect the back of the thigh, is to sleep with the knee extended, not bent. As chiropractor Ron Rogers states 'sleeping with the injured part in a position that elongates the healing muscle will minimize the tendency for scar tissue to rob the muscle of flexibility.
What does a grade 1 hamstring strain feel like?
Grade 1 Strain- Mild, only a few fibers have been injured. Walking will likely be unaffected, you may feel minimal symptoms with sprinting. Grade 2 Strain- Moderate, a partial muscle tear up to half of the muscle. You may experience a limp with walking, and running may not be an option due to weakness and pain.
Can sitting too much cause hamstring pain?
Some people experience tight hamstrings after long periods of sitting or inactivity. For example, sitting at a desk for several hours might lead to tightness. In other cases, the tightness might be due to injury, possibly a recurring injury that makes the hamstrings more vulnerable to tightness.
How to heal a pulled hamstring?
Treating a pulled hamstring muscle involves reducing inflammation and resting it until it heals. Apply an ice pack or a bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a towel to your hamstring and hold it there for 10-15 minutes. Repeat this every hour for the first day , then once every 2 or 3 hours for the next couples of days to reduce inflammation. Keep your leg elevated above your heart and rest as much as possible. You should also wrap an elastic compression bandage or athletic tape around your thigh to help with inflammation. After a few days, stop using ice and switch to a heating pad or hot water bottle to improve your blood circulation and help your tissue heal. If you experience severe pain or difficulty walking, visit your doctor to get it checked out. For more tips, including how to ease yourself back into exercise after pulling your hamstring, read on.
What to do if your hamstring is torn?
If any of the following symptoms match your condition, your hamstring muscle may be completely torn, or pulled off the bone:
How to get your thigh muscles to work?
Lie on your back and bring your knee up to a slight angle. Contract your thigh muscle with about 50% of its maximum force, hold for thirty seconds, then relax and repeat several times. If still pain-free, repeat with your knee at a narrower angle, bringing your foot back up toward your hip.
How to reduce swelling in leg after a sprain?
Elevate your leg. To reduce swelling, sit or lie down and prop your leg up on a tall object, so the site of the injury is higher than your heart. Do this as much as possible for the first 24 hours after the injury.
How to get rid of a swollen groin?
Compress your leg. Wrap an elastic compression bandage or athletic tape around your thigh, starting above the knee and ending about 3 inches (7.5 cm) below the groin. When circling around your leg, make sure each new circle overlaps with about 50% of the last. The end result should be snug, but not uncomfortably tight or cutting off circulation.
What does it mean when you have a buttock injury?
An injury very close to the buttock or knee. A large amount of bruising. Difficulty walking. Severe pain or weakness in injured leg. See Warnings, below, for symptoms that require medical attention at any point in the healing process. ...
How to get your muscles back to full strength?
Perform muscle strengthening exercises . If you can stretch without pain, begin additional exercises to get your muscles back to full strength. Ideally, you should consult a doctor to learn which exercises will focus on your injured muscle with minimal risk of damage. If you do not have access to a doctor, try the following once every one to two days, but stop immediately if you experience pain:
How to diagnose a pulled hamstring?
A pulled hamstring is diagnosed by history and physical examination. The circumstances of the injury will give a clue as to the type of injury, while the physical examination will be used to grade the amount of damage to the muscle or tendon.
What Causes a Pulled Hamstring (Hamstring Injury)?
When a hamstring muscle is pulled, the muscle fibers are abruptly stretched. Depending on the severity of the strain injury, the muscle can actually tear and many people can hear and feel an audible "pop" when the muscle is damaged.
What Are the Hamstrings?
Strains are initially treated with rest, ice, compression, and elevation (known as RICE). A pulled hamstring is also treated this way.
What causes a hamstring injury?
There are a variety of potential risk factors for hamstring injuries. Inadequate warming up and poor stretching.
Where does a hamstring pull occur?
The hamstring pull may occur anywhere along the muscle tendon anatomy , however it most commonly occurs in the middle of the hamstring muscle. As people age, the tendon can be injured where it inserts into the ischial tuberosity in the pelvis and cause groin or hip symptoms.
What happens when you pull a hamstring?
When a hamstring muscle is pulled, the muscle fibers are abruptly stretched. Depending on the severity of the strain injury, the muscle can actually tear and many people can hear and feel an audible "pop" when the muscle is damaged.
How to relax hamstrings?
Often the doctor will lay the patient prone (flat on their stomach) and bend the knee to 90 degrees. This relaxes the hamstring muscles and may minimize muscle spasm. The hamstring muscles can then be felt and a potential defect appreciated.
How to treat a torn hamstring?
Treatment of a torn hamstring is usually determined by the severity of the injury. Resting a pulled hamstring is the key to successful treatment. As a general guide, if you have a hamstring strain, you can do activities that do not aggravate your recent injury.
How to treat hamstring pain?
Allowing time for the muscle to rest is the first step in the treatment of most hamstring injuries. Rest allows the swelling to subside and inflammation to settle down. In order to sufficiently rest the muscle, sometimes crutches are needed to relieve the stress of the muscle. 2
What is hamstring strain?
A hamstring strain occurs when the muscle fibers of the hamstring muscle in the back of the thigh are stretched too far. This can cause tearing of the muscle fibers. Once the injury has been diagnosed, treatment should begin.
How to warm up hamstrings?
Before activities, heating the injured muscle can help loosen the tissue. Applying a heat pack to the hamstring prior to stretching or exercising may help to warm up the injured muscle. As a general rule, remember to heat before, and ice after. 7
How to heal hamstrings?
Rest. Allowing time for the muscle to rest is the first step in the treatment of most hamstring injuries. Rest allows the swelling to subside and inflammation to settle down. In order to sufficiently rest the muscle, sometimes crutches are needed to relieve the stress of the muscle. 2 .
How can physical therapy help athletes?
Physical therapy can help guide an athlete with appropriate treatment. Many people find relief with modalities such as ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and therapeutic massage. 4 Most athletes should begin therapeutic exercise as soon as possible.
Is it necessary to have surgery on a hamstring?
Surgical treatment is rarely necessary for the treatment of a hamstring injury. When the injury occurs within the central part of the muscle, it is almost always best to treat these injuries non-surgically. In some situations when the muscle attachment to the bone is pulled off, surgery may be necessary to reattach the muscle to its proper location. 2
How long does it take for a hamstring tear to heal?
Takeaway. Most hamstring tears are caused by athletic injuries. Typically, partial tears he al in 4 to 8 weeks, while complete tears take about 3 months. You should start to feel better with regular physical therapy and lots of rest.
How to tell if hamstring is torn?
The symptoms of a torn hamstring depend on the severity of your injury. You might feel: 1 sudden, sharp pain 2 a “popping” sensation at the time of injury 3 tenderness 4 swelling within the first few hours 5 bruising within the first few days 6 partial or complete weakness in your leg 7 inability to place weight on your leg
What happens when you overstretch your hamstrings?
It happens when the hamstrings are overstretched or overloaded with too much weight. Depending on the injury, the hamstring can tear partially or completely. The injury can affect one or more of the muscles in your hamstring muscle group. These muscles include the:
What is a grade 1 hamstring injury?
Depending on their severity, hamstring injuries are categorized into one of three grades. Grade 1 is mild hamstring strain, which is also called a pulled hamstring. It happens when the hamstring muscles overstretch but don’t tear. If the hamstring stretches to the point where it rips, the injury is considered a tear.
What test shows a tear in muscle tissue?
MRI. If the doctor thinks you have a severe injury, you might get an MRI. This imaging test will show the tear in your muscle tissue.
Why do older people tear their hamstrings?
In addition to athletes, older people are prone to hamstring tears. That’s because flexibility often declines with age. Adolescent athletes, who are still growing, are also at risk. Since bone and muscle grow at different rates, the growing bone can tighten the hamstring muscles, making them more susceptible to injury.
What is the first line of treatment for sports injuries?
The RICE method is the first line of treatment for most sports injuries. For grade 2 tears, it’s the main form of treatment.
What to do when you have a hamstring strain?
As with any injury, the number one thing you want to do immediately is get pressure off the injury as soon as possible. With a strain, you have a muscle injury, and expanding and contracting those muscles will only further aggravate the hamstring. Sit back, elevate the injured leg, and turn on a good movie.
What supplements help with hamstring pain?
Food sources or supplements containing turmeric derivatives and coenzyme Q10 can be major assets in helping to soothe pain and inflammation to help make hamstring healing just a little easier.
Why do my muscles get tighter after a strain?
As the small muscle fiber tears heal , the muscle will come back strong but much tighter than before. Because a strain is an overstretching of the muscle , tight muscles means a muscle is more likely to be strained again.
What is a 1st degree strain?
Because of the swelling, limited mobility is also not uncommon. A 1st degree strain is classified as a mild overstretching of a muscle.
How long does it take for a tear to heal?
A minor strain will typically heal within 2-3 weeks when properly treated, so an injury that lingers longer should be a red flag.
How to reduce swelling in leg?
Sit back, elevate the injured leg, and turn on a good movie. By elevating your leg closer to or even above the level of your heart, the swelling can be minimized as blood and other inflammatory substances drain out of the area.
What is the key ingredient in healing a strain?
Increased blood flow of repair cells and nutrients to the injury site are key ingredients to healing a strain quickly.
What is pulled muscle?
Jason DelCollo, DO, is board-certified in family medicine and on the faculty of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. A muscle strain, also called a pulled muscle, occurs when a muscle is stretched too far, and microscopic tears occur within the muscle fibers.
What is the best way to prevent muscle strain?
Gentle Stretching. Stretching and strengthening are useful in the treatment and prevention of muscle strain injuries. Muscles that are stronger and more flexible are less likely to be injured.
What are the symptoms of muscle strain?
The usual symptoms of this type of injury include pain, spasm of the muscle, swelling, bruising, and limited mobility. Often an athlete will feel a sudden grabbing or tearing sensation in the muscle, and then be unable to continue their activities. Muscle strain injuries are graded by severity: 1 .
How to heal muscle strain?
Most muscle strain injuries will heal with simple treatment steps, but performing the right steps, at the right time, can be critical to ensuring the fastest possible recovery. As with many injuries, there is a balance between doing too much, or too little, early after the injury.
How long does it take to recover from a splint?
Rest is recommended for the early recovery phase, lasting one to five days depending on the severity of the injury. Immobilization is not usually necessary and can be potentially harmful. 2 Immobilization in a splint or cast should be carefully supervised by your healthcare provider, as this can lead to stiffness of the muscle.
Why is it important to use caution when a muscle is fatigued?
6 . Athletes should use caution, especially as they become fatigued, as the muscle becomes more susceptible to strain injuries.
How to treat a hamstring injury?
Consider bandaging your thigh with an elastic wrap to limit swelling and movement. Elevation. Try to keep your leg propped up on a pillow to limit swelling. OTC pain medications may help ease your discomfort with a hamstring injury.
What to do if you feel a pain in your hamstring?
If you feel sudden pain in your hamstring, stop what you’re doing to prevent more damage. You may have heard the acronym RICE before. It may help you get better, faster.
How to prevent muscle imbalance?
Following are some general tips for prevention: 1 Warm up before working out or playing sports, and cool down afterward. 2 Exercise regularly to maintain your cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Doing so will help you prevent injuries related to fatigue. 3 Spend time stretching and strengthening muscles in your weekly exercise routine. Doing so will help prevent muscular imbalances that may cause injury. 4 Take days off or have easy days between particularly hard physical sessions to give your body adequate rest. 5 Try adding speed work to your routine to prepare hamstring muscles for the types of forces that may lead to injury.
What muscles contract when you sprint?
When you sprint, for example, your hamstring muscles must contract repeatedly as your leg lengthens with your stride. All this lengthening and loading of the muscles creates a perfect environment for injury. You may feel anything from sudden pain, to a popping or snapping feeling in your leg. Your hamstring may feel tender and you might even see bruising at the site of your injury.
What pain relievers can I take for hamstring pain?
OTC pain medications may help ease your discomfort with a hamstring injury. Oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen (Motrin, Aleve), or another OTC pain medication like acetaminophen (Tylenol), may be good for short-term relief. Topical NSAID creams or gels can also help ease pain.
How to relieve hamstring pain?
Another option for pain relief involves using a foam roller to apply what’s called myofascial release to your hamstrings. Place the roller just above the back of your knee and roll upward in the direction of blood flow to massage the muscles. Professional sports massage may also help with your pain.
Why does my hamstring hurt?
The main cause of injury to the hamstring is muscle overload. Strains and tears happen when the muscle is lengthening as it contracts or shortens. They may also happen if the muscle is stretched too far or is taxed too suddenly.
What is the treatment for hamstring injuries?
Essentially, all other grade I-III tears are best treated without surgery.
What are home remedies for hamstring injury?
The goal of treatment is to restore muscle function and prevent scar formation. Initially, treatment consists of rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). Rest refers to avoidance of offending activities and oftentimes includes immobilization. In severe cases, crutches or splinting may be necessary. Ice, compression, and elevation all help in controlling pain and swelling. A short course of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication, such as aspirin, ibuprofen ( Advil, Children's Advil/ Motrin, Medipren, Motrin, Nuprin, PediaCare Fever, and others), or naproxen ( Aleve, Anaprox, Naprelan, Naprosyn ), may be helpful (avoid aspirin use in children).
What are risk factors for hamstring injury?
Any activity that is associated with sudden acceleration when initiating or during running can lead to a hamstring injury. Common athletic activities where hamstring injuries occur include track and field events with running and sprinting, football, baseball, soccer, and tennis.
What are symptoms and signs of injury to the hamstring muscles?
Hamstring injuries usually occur with sudden lunging, running, or jumping, resulting in muscle injury. The sudden jerking pulls on the tissues of the hamstring muscle. In fact, it is commonly referred to as a "pulled hamstring." Oftentimes, a "pop" is heard or felt by the injured athlete. A variable amount of pain is experienced immediately. The athlete is usually unable to continue and oftentimes cannot even stand.
What are the hamstrings?
The hamstrings are the tendons that attach the large muscles at the back of the thigh to bone. The hamstring muscles are the large muscles that pull on these tendons. It has become common in layman's terminology (and by some medical personnel) to refer to the long muscles at the back of the thigh as the "hamstrings" or "hamstring muscles." Academic anatomists refer to them as the posterior thigh muscles, and more specifically as the semimembranosus, the semitendinosus, and the biceps femoris muscles. These muscles span the thigh, crossing both the hip and the knee. They originate or begin at just below the buttocks, arising from the bone on which we sit (the ischium). They connect by means of their tendons onto the upper parts of the lower leg bones (the tibia and the fibula).
How do health care professionals diagnose hamstring injuries?
Injury to the hamstring muscle is diagnosed by the rapid onset of intense pain in the back of the mid-thigh during running or similar activity. Athletes will often instantly grab in pain at the back of the thigh, being unable to walk without limping. There is often focal tenderness where there is pain that is aggravated by stretching the affected thigh. In most patients, imaging is not necessary. However, if imaging is done to more completely view the muscle, tendon, or bone involvement with the injury, MRI gives the best views, although CT and ultrasound studies have also been used.
What is a hamstring injury?
Hamstrings are tendons of the muscles of the back of the thigh. Hamstring muscles bend the knee and straighten the hip. Hamstring muscle injury is a common athletic injury. Most hamstring muscle and tendon injuries heal without surgery.