The classic sign of a hamstring injury is that vision of an athlete in full flight wincing in pain and clutching at the back of their thigh before they fall in a heap.
This is typical for an acute hamstring muscle injury.
The most common muscle injury in football is that of the Hamstring. Often occurring when sprinting.
Most often, these injuries take between three to eight weeks to recover from. In rare cases, the injury involves some of the hamstring tendon and may take a significant amount of time longer.
In season hamstring injuries occur up to three times more often (according to UEFA data).
In a typical squad, this is an average of 2-3 injuries per season.
Remember, however, that these statistics are in the setting of elite athletes with an abundance of medical and sport science support available to them.
In reality, semi-professional squads and amateur teams suffer these injuries at a rate of approximately 1 every 8-10 games. But with potentially up to 6 games missed, that is a massive impact on the squad for the season.
In positive news, you can cut this injury rate down by 51% simply by including one exercise into your week, for 3 sets of 5-8 reps, on two occasions per week (think, after training).
More importantly, this is FAR more effective if you have suffered an injury previously.
So, not only does it aid the whole squad, but it helps anyone who has ever suffered this injury even more.
The injuries are still nasty if they happen. We can’t prevent them all!
To cut down the rate of injury by half is appealing, particularly when we only need to spend 2-3 minutes, twice a week on it!
The magic happens with just one simple exercise. See the image below for a guide. Don’t be afraid, it is a tough exercise to do! So, start easy for a couple of weeks before increasing how far you go and how many you do.
