Do you have hamstring tendonitis? You are not alone. Upwards of 33% of athletes 16-25 experience a hamstring injury. If you’re an athlete then it’s likely you’ve either pulled your hamstring or worked through pain in the back of your leg at some point.
The hamstring is a group of four long, strong muscles that cross two joints, the knee and the hip. This is important to know because flaws with one or both of those joints can often be what creates the problem in the first place. A tendonitis, or inflammation of the tendon, typically presents with pain at the buttock or back of the knee (the two places where the muscle attaches). Tendonitis usually develops from 1 of 3 factors:
- Overuse – some element in your training or sport was progressed with too much intensity, too much volume, not enough rest, or was progressed too quickly
- Biomechanical – faulty hip or knee mechanics during an activity that cause excess work or pull on the hamstring tendons
- Trauma – kicking a soccer ball, sprinting or decelerating, jumping are all common activities that may create a single moment of high force that the hamstring muscle and tendon are not prepared for
Each of these three factors are treated differently. For an overuse injury, we have to determine what was wrong with the training that got us here. But inevitably solving the problem is going to entail a reduction in training frequency, intensity, or volume in order to build up slower. A biomechanical problem at the hip or knee would likely need some mobility adjustments added into the program, some form tweaks, some short term modifications of however the sport or exercise is being done, or some combination of all of these. Lastly, for trauma, we would need to focus primarily on absolute rest and recovery for a few weeks and then slowly integrate a hamstring training protocol to tolerance.
If you’re dealing with a hamstring injury, come see us either in person or for a virtual appointment to create a custom plan for how you can treat your hamstring tendonitis and get back to participating in the activities you love.