Hamstring Injury Research Paper

Hamstring strain is a common recurring sports injury. Aside from interfering with your routine, hamstring injuries can cause injuries throughout the body by changing your gait, meaning that other muscles will be compensating for the injured hamstring's action. This often manifests as lower back pain, since muscles in this region tend to compensate for the hamstrings. On top of weak, tight hamstrings, back pain can further interfere with your performance.

Researchers have analyzed several studies to consolidate the available scientific evidence on risk factors for hamstring injury. Surprisingly, several likely culprits weren't found to correlate with injury, including hamstring strength, hamstring flexibility and a person's weight. While these still may be relevant factors, two that stood out the most throughout the studies assessed were quadriceps peak torque and previous

Researchers found that, throughout the various studies assessed, higher peak torque numbers for the quadriceps were associated with higher risk of hamstring injury.

The hamstrings and quadriceps oppose one another, meaning they perform opposite actions on the same joint. The quadriceps extends the knee, while the hamstrings flex it. Often, muscle imbalances are present between the hamstring and quadriceps groups with the latter being stronger; this means it may fight the action of the hamstrings by exerting a strong pull on the knee, causing the hamstring to work harder to bend the knee. This constant overworking could lead to strain.

Muscle imbalance between the quads and hamstring could explain why hamstring muscle strength itself was not found to be a strong risk factor for injury; the key may be in the balance between this muscle group and the quadriceps rather than isolated to the hamstring. Imbalanced hamstrings may still be strong, but weaker than the quads.

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