Understanding Hamstring Strains 

Statistically, hamstring strains are one of the most common soft tissue injuries in all of sports. Furthermore, hamstring strains are often cited to be one of the most common reoccurring injuries.

Of all gait related injuries hamstring strains have the greatest rate of re-occurance with as many as 1/3 of  injured athletes suffering re-injury with the first few weeks following return to sport.”  -Tom Michaud

Rest assure, if you have properly designed strength program, hamstring strains can be almost a preventable injury!

The following 4 exercises can be used to help strengthen the hamstrings and reduce the risk of injury & re-injury.

Side Note: You do not need to use a slide board to perform this or any of the following exercises. You can simply use a paper plate, socks, and slide on a surface such as carpet or floor board to still reap the same benefits.

Level 1 Hamstring Exercise

2-Leg Slideboard Eccentric Hamstring 

How to perform: 

• Start in the supine position and bring your hips up toward the ceiling.
• Do not hyperextend the lower back while performing the movement.
• Slowly extend the legs out until your butt/back of the legs touch the floor.
• Reset. Perform again.

Level 2 Hamstring Exercise

2-Leg Slideboard Leg Curl

How to perform:

• Start in the supine position and bring your hips up toward the ceiling.
• Do not hyperextend the lower back while performing the movement.
• Slowly extend the legs out until your butt/back of the legs are 1-3″ away from the floor.
• From this position, curl the legs back to the start position with hips off the floor.
• Repeat.

Level 3 Hamstring Exercise

1-Leg Slideboard Eccentric 

How to perform:

• Start in the supine position and bring your hips up toward the ceiling with one leg off the ground at 90 degrees.
• Do not hyperextend the lower back while performing the movement.
• Slowly extend the legs out until your butt/back of the legs touch the floor.
• Reset to starting position.
• Repeat.

Level 4 Hamstring Exercise

1-Leg Slideboard Leg Curl 

How to perform:

• Start in the supine position and bring your hips up toward the ceiling with one leg off the ground at 90 degrees.
• Do not hyperextend the lower back while performing the movement.
• Slowly extend the legs out until your butt/back of the legs are 1-3″ away from the ground.
• Return to starting position with hips off the ground.
• Repeat.

To summarize

We want to make sure that you understand these 4 exercises can be a supplement to your exercise plan or rehab plan. Recovering from a hamstring injury or training to reduce the risk of a hamstring injury is much more elaborate than these simple 4 exercises.

For instance, you want to make sure that you start working/training the hamstring muscle from a more functional perspective like standing, split stance, single leg stance, power, acceleration, speed standpoint to make sure that you are doing the right things and following a systematic order to get resilient hamstrings.

If you are interested in learning more about your body and how to design a functional program click the button below for a Functional Movement Screen.

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