Hamstring injuries are the most common injury in football and AFL, and we can help our patients strengthen their hamstrings while significantly reducing their risk of injury with the right exercise program. What are the best exercises to use to strengthen and lengthen the hamstrings, and to prevent hamstring injury?

In this Physio Edge podcast with Dr David Opar, we discuss hamstring injury prevention, which athletes will benefit, which exercises to use, the most important aspects of each exercise and how to incorporate these with your athletes. You will discover:

• What does the latest research around hamstring exercises and injury reveal?
• Which players are most at risk of hamstring injury?
• How can we prevent hamstring injuries?
• How does hamstring muscle architecture adapt to training, and how does this relate to your exercise selection or prescription?
• How can we increase hamstring muscle fascicle length?
• How can we tailor our patients hamstring program based on whether they are preseason, in-season, uninjured or previously injured?
• Which exercises are important in hamstring rehabilitation and prehabilitation?
• How can you start and progress a hamstring injury prevention program?
• How quickly do patients lose their hamstring gains, and how much maintenance do they need to perform?
• What happens to hamstring muscle strength and flexibility following injury?
• What neuromuscular inhibition happens following hamstring injuries, and how can we address this in our rehab?

There has been a lot of great research performed recently on hamstring injuries, and to share this and help you with your hamstring injury patients, we have invited Dr David Opar to present at the upcoming Sports Injuries virtual conference in December 2017. You can access six free preconference sports injury presentations by CLICKING HERE.

Related Links

• David Pope on Twitter
• Clinical Edge on Facebook
• Have a free trial Clinical Edge membership
• ACU open access hamstring journal repository

Articles associated with this episode:

• Bourne et al. 2017. Impact of exercise selection on hamstring muscle activation.
• Opar et al. 2015. Eccentric hamstring strength and hamstring injury risk in Australian footballers.
• Petersen et al. 2011. Preventive Effect of Eccentric Training on Acute Hamstring Injuries in Men's Soccer.
• Timmins et al. 2015. Short biceps femoris fascicles and eccentric knee flexor weakness increase the risk of hamstring injury in elite football (soccer): a prospective cohort study.
• Timmins et al. 2016. Architectural Changes of the Biceps Femoris Long Head after Concentric or Eccentric Training.
• van Dyk et al. 2016. Hamstring and Quadriceps Isokinetic Strength Deficits Are Weak Risk Factors for Hamstring Strain Injuries: A 4-Year Cohort Study.