Painful hamstring injury

A few words about the hamstrings and the related injuries

Hamstrings are the strong muscles which are located on the back of the knee and these muscles have the purpose to enable the Flexing of the knee by the coordinated contractions. They connect the back side of the muscles of the thighs, all the way from pelvis, to the calf muscles, and that is why they are crucial for the movements of the whole leg and that is why so much pressure is put on them almost constantly. The stress they have to bear, especially in the athletes, such as sprinters, the football players or the bicycle riders, for instance, leads to very frequent injuries of these muscles.

The most common injuries are the pulled hamstring, strains and the ruptures. The muscles become torn if there is enough force the stepped ground gives as the resistance, in the moment in which the hamstring muscles must shrink because of the nature of the step, that way disabling the contraction of the muscles.

So, the tears of the muscles are often provoked by the overuse of these muscles, but they may as well be the consequence of some trauma, and that is usually the case of the bruised hamstrings. When talking about the strain, it is actually the partial or total rupture of the muscular fibers.

However, this type of injury varies according to the extent to what the fibers are torn, so the pulled hamstring may be either of the very small or of the complete breakage of the hamstring fibers, which can be considered as the most severe grade of the injury. Additionally, in those most severe cases, the surgical procedure is the recommended way of the treatment.

Dealing with the pulled hamstring

Besides the mentioned possible contusions and, naturally, the pain, the other prominent indicators of the pulled hamstring are the apparition of swelling (which consequently leads to the disabled movements of these muscles), and the involuntary and abnormal contractions.

So, the first aid must include the cessation of any physical activity and putting the ice over the affected area as soon as possible. After that, a bandage should be wrapped around the hamstring, and all these actions are actually the precautions for the reduction of the swelling and pain. Later on, the gentle massages can be included so that the circulation of the blood could be better and the sudden spasms could be lessened by the medications which provide the relaxations. Of course, one should see the doctor if suspecting on somewhat more serious injury.