Risk Factors for hamstring injuries part 1

I am blogging about the risk factors in hamstring injuries so you; the athlete can take measures to prevent them. In this Blog I will write about non-modifiable factors that cause hamstring injuries, theses are obviously harder to avoid but they may still be some areas where you can minimize your risk.

1. Previous injury - Following a hamstring injury you are twice as likely to have another injury. This is due to the formation of scar tissue over the old injury site. This scar tissue has reduced flexibility, muscular weakness and poorer muscular control then the rest of the hamstring therefore causing you an increased risk of re-injury. You can minimize this risk by taking the time to see a sports specialist physiotherapist prior to returning to sport to ensure your rehab is complete, therefore reducing the risk of re-injury. 
2. Age - If you are over 22 years of age your risk of hamstring injury increases by 1.8 times every year. You can minimize this risk by doing some age appropriate specific hamstring strengthening.
3. Anatomy - One of your hamstrings called the biceps femoris has two heads, unfortunately this two heads are supplied by a different nerves. Sometimes they do not fire at the correct time for various complicated anatomical reasons and this causes the hamstring to be weakened when running and leads to injury. This quirk of nature can be helped by maintaining a strong back and appropriate exercises can be done to strengthen your lower back, again to reduce your risk.
4. Ethnicity - Sports men and women of aboriginal or African origin have been shown to have a higher incidence of hamstring injuries compared with other ethnic groups. This is due to a higher portion of fast twitch muscles then other groups. They also (anatomically) have an anteriorly (forward) tilted pelvis putting more tension onto the hamstring while running or at rest.

My next Blog I will discuss the modifiable risk factors in hamstring injuries. As you can see most factors can be helped by seeing an appropriate sports specialist physio so do come and see me. If you have any questions please email or call me.