Hamstring Anatomy
The hamstring muscles are located on the back of your thigh. They work closely with your quadriceps muscles (front of your thigh), your gluteal muscles, and your calf muscles to ensure proper movement of your leg and hip. They allow your knee to bend, and your thigh to straighten and extend the leg back at the hip. Your hamstring muscles act as a brake to stop an action. You can feel this when walking or running downhill, landing from jumps or performing squats, and when trying to stop quickly after sprinting.

The hamstrings are made up of 3 long muscles that start at the bottom of your pelvis extending down the back of your thigh and along either side of your knee, to your shin bones. The lateral hamstring is the biceps femoris and the medial hamstrings are the semitendinosus and the semimembranosus. The tendons (tough fibers that connect muscle to bone) for these muscles begin at your ischial tuberosity (the bony bump under each buttock, known as your "sit bones") and attach on the outer edges of your shinbone (your tibia and fibula) just below the back of your knee. They help to stabilize your knee. Your hamstrings also have a lot of soft connective tissues and are innervated by your sciatic nerve. This part of your body is prone to injury because it crosses 2 major joints - your hip and your knee.

Hamstring Tendonitis

Hamstring tendonitis is often confused with hamstring tendinopathy or tendinosis. Hamstring tendonitis refers to inflammation (pain, swelling, warmth, redness and dysfunction) in one or more of the hamstring tendons located around the ischial tuberosity and/or just below the knee (on tibia and fibula). Hamstring tendinitis often leads to hamstring tendinosis (tendinopathy) over the long term.

Hamstring tendinopathy (or high hamstring tendinopathy) is a chronic tendon injury that involves degeneration of the hamstring tendons at their attachment to the ischial tuberosity or the shinbones (just below the knee). This type of tendinosis is a result of excessive tension, effort and/or repetitive use of your hamstring muscles and tendons. The initial damage can range from overstretching to partial tearing to complete rupturing of the small fibers that make up your hamstring muscles and tendons. If you do not allow your tissues to heal properly, your previous hamstring injuries will build upon each other. The inability of your tendon to repair itself encourages the microtears to accumulate faster than they can heal, increasing the degeneration in your tissue and reinforcing your pain and disability.

If you have hamstring tendinopathy or tendinosis damage happens at a cellular level - your tendon (which is made up of collagen fibers) becomes weaker and thinner over time and the hamstring tendon fibers begin to fray and separate. The tendon loses its glistening appearance and elasticity, and often changes to a soft texture that is yellow or brown in color (mucus-like appearance). Scar tissue (very fibrous tissue that develops in the healing of wounds) or calcific deposits (calcium phosphate) develop around the injured area which can decrease the blood supply to the tissue.

This condition can be in one or both of your legs and normally affects active people between 30 - 50 years old, especially distance runners, sprinters, tennis players, skaters, and soccer players (or those who participate in team sports with lots of running). Other conditions that are often seen with hamstring tendonitis are bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes, avulsion fractures, stress fractures, and/or referred back pain.

A Black Body Radiant Energy Kit is one of the most helpful tools for an injured tendon. Through the absorption of radiant energy, tissues are safely and gently heated - increasing blood flow within the treated area. Your body's natural response to this increased temperature is to try to maintain a condition of homeostasis - a balanced environment or state of equilibrium throughout the body. To do this, your body responds with a rapid increase in blood flow to the area (this is known as vasodilation), increasing the supply of nutrients to injured cells and flushing out toxins (including lactic acid, commonly found in trigger points) to promote healing. Our Thermotex Platinum Pain Relief Device provides effective, non-invasive, non-addictive pain relief with no side effects.

Our Cold Compression Wraps are recommended as the best by several professional sports organizations, and countless medical professionals. That's why we sell them, because they are the best. We have noticed over time that our customers are so fond of our cold wraps that they are frequently coming back and ordering a second one. The wraps are becoming very popular with baseball and soccer trainers, and the wraps can be conveniently stored in a cooler for quick application on the field when needed.

Ultrasound therapy is also a helpful tool for pain prevention of an injured tendon, and having a portable ultrasound device at home can be a powerful and convenient treatment tool. If you have symptoms or are recovering from an injured tendon, using ultrasound on a regular basis before your activity or throughout the day will help relax your muscles, tendons and tissues, diminish pain and inflammation, soften scar tissue and contribute greatly to the healing of your injury.

If you suffer from mild inflammation or pain after certain activities or movements use ultrasound therapy when you complete the activity and then rest and elevate your area of injury. Limit the application of ultrasound to a couple of treatments per day (the manual will recommend treatment frequency depending upon the injury). In between ultrasound treatments, maximize your pain relief and injury recovery by using the Thermotex Personal Therapy System. Proven Performance, Proven Relief - only found at MendMeShop.com. If you have been given a treatment plan by your health professional, make sure you adhere to it to ensure pain free living. In general, people who are committed to their therapies and exercises will have the best medical outcomes.