LIZZIE’S THREE EXERCISES FOR PREVENTING HAMSTRING INJURIES IN SPORTS PLAYERS:
March 20, 2024
- BOOTY BAND WALKS AS SEEN ON ADAM MEAKINS “The Sports Physiotherapist” (https://thesports.physio):
- For all three of these exercises you’ll need either a blue or black resistance band/theraband depending on how strong your glutes already are.
- The best place for these exercises at home is in your hallway because you’ve got room to go up & down.
- The best place for these exercises at home is in your hallway because you’ve got room to go up & down.
- THE CRAB WALK:
- In your hallway stand side-on & tie the resistance band around your ankles.
- Stand in a semi-squat with feet just wider than hip width apart (you don’t need to be in a full squat but your knees need to be bent & they need to stay that way the whole time
- Now step sideways down the hallway while remaining in the semi squat the whole time.
- Do 10 steps to the left, then 10 steps to the right, rest for 30secs & repeat three times.
- VIDEO FROM ADAM MEAKINS:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDHiqwItrsM&feature=youtu.be
- THE WALTZ WALK:
- In your hallway stand front-on & tie the resistance band around your ankles.
- Stand in a semi-squat with feet just wider than hip width apart (you don’t need to be in a full squat but your knees need to be bent & they need to stay that way the whole time).
- Now bring one foot in towards the other & then push out & forward on a 45 deg angle, then repeat these steps with the other leg.
- Do 10 steps forward, then do 10 steps backwards in the same fashion, rest for 30secs & repeat three times.
- VIDEO FROM ADAM MEAKINS:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzGBo_oeS40
- THE PEED PANTS WALK:
- In your hallway stand front-on & tie the resistance band around your ankles.
- Stand in a semi-squat with feet just wider than hip width apart (you don’t need to be in a full squat but your knees need to be bent & they need to stay that way the whole time).
- Now stand up on tip toes while maintaining the semi squat (you don’t need to be up high on tip toes but heels need to be off the ground). Now step one foot forward at a time.
- Do 10 steps forward, then 10 steps backwards in the same fashion, rest for 30secs & repeat three times.
- VIDEO FROM ADAM MEAKINS:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJaXqyXKXdU
Now you’re probably wondering why I’ve picked a predominantly glute exercise to prevent a hamstring injury. The reason for this is that I often find that hamstring injuries occur as a result of weak glutes as opposed to tight hamstrings. Your glutes are the main muscle responsible for getting you sprinting & if for some reason they’re not strong enough & you have to repetitively sprint, i.e. in virtually any sports game, & they fatigue, other muscles kick in to help do the work the glutes are meant to be doing; namely the hamstrings. The hamstrings aren’t designed for this type of work, so quickly fatigue & eventually pull/tear/tighten as a result.
2. HILL SPRINTS:
- This is as simple as it sounds:
- Find a small hill 50-80m.
- Sprint up it.
- Walk back down.
- Repeat 10-20x depending on fitness.
- Obviously don’t just crack straight into this do a light 10min jog to warm up & then do some dynamic stretches, & then you’re ready to get going.
Again, you’re probably wondering how this helps with hamstrings. I too often see sports players sprinting with a very upright posture, especially rugby players. Not only does this put lots of pressure on your lower back, but it puts you into an incorrect position to be able to activate & engage your muscles correctly for an effective sprint. This means you’re sprinting slower than you could be & your muscles are more likely to get injured because they’re not able to work correctly. I’ll attach a video of an Olympic sprinter so that you can see what I mean they lean forward to gain momentum, & enable their glutes, hamstrings & then calves to activate in the correct pattern, in fact they start completely bent over in the blocks & only stand more upright at the end in order to SLOW down.
3. ECCENTRIC/NORDIC HAMSTRING CURLS:
- This is only exercise of my three that is directly a hamstring exercise.
- The eccentric part of an exercise is generally always the hardest part & you gain the most strength from doing it hence why it’s important.
- If you unsure what the eccentric part of an exercise is, it’s the bit when your muscle is actually LENGTHENING against resistance, as opposed to the concentric part, which is when the muscle is SHORTENING.
- E.g., when you’re doing a bicep curl when you’re lifting the weight up to your shoulder your muscle is shortening, & when you’re slowly letting it come back down against the resistance of the weight + gravity your muscle & tendon are lengthening- this is the eccentric bit- which is why it’s important to do this part of the exercise slowly as you actually gain more strength that way.
- Now a Nordic/eccentric hamstring curl involves lengthening of the hamstring muscle & tendon against resistance.
- You need to kneel on the ground & get someone to hold onto your calves to keep them on the ground or tuck your feet under something heavy to keep them down.
- Next you need to slowly lower your tummy & chest down towards the ground in one motion trying to get as close as possible to the ground before putting your hands out to touch the ground.
- Then go back to the starting position and repeat three to five times before having a minute rest & repeating another three times.
- Eventually you might be able to do up to 10 in a row but initially start off with less because you’ll definitely feel it!
- VIDEO FROM YOUTUBE:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRZcNx_C0A
So, the reason this exercise is important for preventing hamstring injury in sport (apart from obviously strengthening the hamstring), is that often hamstring injuries actually occur when people are trying to decelerate in sport i.e., sprinting to try & tackle a player in rugby who’s run away & they try to step you so you have to stop quickly to try change direction. This action of stopping is an eccentric action for the hamstring, it has to lengthen quickly & strongly against the opposing force of the quadriceps on the other side of the thigh in order to cause the player to stop, so if you don’t have good eccentric strength tears often occur at this point.
What could we do every day to reduce the need for us to see the doctor? WALKING! A simple, cheap, and effective method. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has physical activity guidelines for every age, for 18-64-year-olds they are the following: At least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity Or at least 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. And walking is one cheap way to achieve these recommendations. For these recommendations that would be five 30-minute walks per week. Now that may seem daunting to achieve. But small steps in the right direction can lead you into this, even starting off with one walk a week to get going, as behaviour change is no easy feat! It is said that a task or activity takes an average of 66 days to become a habit so starting off small is a good first step (no pun intended). The benefits of regular physical activity are lengthy, here are a few: Reduced hypertension (high blood pressure) Reduce cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular mortality (strokes, heart attacks, diabetes etc) Reduced risk of many cancers (bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, oesophageal, gastric, and renal) Improved muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness Improved bone and function health Improved sleep Reduced risk of falls Improved mental health (reduced anxiety and depression) Meeting these guidelines can lead us to live a healthier and more balanced lifestyle and reduce the need to see the doctor regularly. References: Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C. H., Potts, H. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European journal of social psychology, 40(6), 998-1009. Physical activity. (2020, November 26). Www.Who.Int. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
We physios see a lot of gym-related injuries and ongoing pains, particularly in the shoulder. Personally speaking, most of these appear to occur in young males. This is largely due to one reason: over-training the chest in pursuit of either; a massive chest that looks good in the mirror, or a massive bench press that looks good on Instagram. Soon enough they all learn that this is a terrible approach (it took me a while). I’m here to help you learn quickly. The shoulder is a complex joint but I’ll do my best to simplify it. Most shoulder pain is to do with a little tunnel in the shoulder. The top of the tunnel is a part of the shoulder blade (Acromion) and the bottom of the tunnel is your arm bone (Humerus). Have a look at the picture beneath. You’ll see the rotator cuff running through the tunnel. This picture hasn’t included the rotator cuff’s best friend, the bursa, another important soft tissue structure. If the tendon or the bursa get squeezed between the sides of the tunnel often, they’ll get irritated and painful.
Written by Yurri Hynson (M.Phty) Most people would agree that prevention is better than cure when it comes to injury. You simply need to know what to do!
The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source. Muscle strains/tears: Grade 1= 2-8 weeks Grade 2= 2-4 months Grade 3= 9-12 months Ligament sprains/tears: Grade 1= 2-8 weeks Grade 2= 2-6 months Grade 3= 6-12 months Surgical graft (e.g. ACL)= 12+ months Tendon strains/tears: Acute= 2-6 weeks Subacute= 2-4 months Chronic (e.g. tendinopathy)= 3-9 months Tear/surgical repair or rupture= 4-12+ months Other tissue injuries: Bone/fracture= 6-12+ weeks Articular cartilage= 9-24 months Meniscus/labrum= 3-12 months Certain things will definitely affect how quickly your injury will heal including: the severity of your injury; how you load your injury (this is where we come in as we can guide you to how to best load your injury); movement patterns that are helpful or are hindering you (again we can help with this); good sleep, adequate hydration & good nutrition will all influence your recovery; as will any co-morbidities that affect your blood circulation (e.g. unmanaged diabetes. As you can see there is a large window of time for most of these injuries before complete healing & remodelling takes place, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be in pain or limited for that whole period of time- but it does mean you’re more at risk to reinjure the site of injury until the injury has completely healed & remodelled. **Full credit for this post goes to a fellow Physical Therapy company in the United States called Evolve Flagstaff (give them a follow on Instagram & book in with them if you’re over that way!). Here is the link to the full article where I sourced this information: https://www.evolveflg.com/articles/tissue-healing.**
The good, the bad and those habits! I hope everyone did something physical today. There are lots of options. As a life habit you should …
