Most people think there are 2 different types of hamstring injuries, strains and tears. What this means differs from person to person, but from what I can gather a tear is completely stuffed, a strain is sort of stuffed.

Some people have heard of the 3 grade system – 3 is stuffed, 2 is pretty stuffed, 1 is OK.

In reality, there are 4 different muscle parts (one hamstring has 2 heads) and between 5 and 7 tendon parts (depending on your particular brand of human) that you can injure.

The latest and most accurate classification system on the degree of tear has 12 different types, across the 3 muscles.

Plus, there is the mechanism. If a tear occurs at high speed or under a stretch force changes the recovery time significantly.

Your hamstrings cross your hip and knee and are a massively important muscle group for daily life, let alone athletic performance. When you damage it, if you don’t rehab it properly you are prone to doing it, or something else, really fast.

How many pro athletes tear hamstrings? Heaps, so even the best of rehab doesn’t prevent all injury. What chance does DIY rehab give you?

So when you ping your hamstring, ask yourself

Stretch or high speed?

Is the tendon involved?

How has my nervous system responded?

How long will I need to recover?

What do I do to prevent it happening again?

If you can’t answer these questions definitively, you need to have it managed by a professional. At Newcastle Performance Physio we apply the latest in sports medicine evidence based rehabilitation to every hammie

If I was to “do a hammie” I would get mine managed by a colleague. So if I don’t treat myself, there is NO WAY you should.

Share this with your friend, the DIY rehab master.

Tune in next week for Episode II “it’s only an ankle sprain”

Dave