Anatomy

The upper leg muscles provide your knees with mobility (extension, flexion and rotation) and strength. 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.

Your hamstring muscles control movement of your body, hip and knee, help turn your leg in and out, and are involved with power activities that include a lot of propulsion, thrust and control (such as jumping, running, and walking). They allow your knee to bend (flex the leg at the knee) and pull your leg backward while propelling your body forward when you move (your thigh straightens and extends the leg back at the hip). They are involved with eccentric movements, which increase the length of the muscle while it is under tension - instead of starting an action, the 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 (posterior thigh muscles) 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 (made up of 2 parts - a short head and long head) and the medial hamstrings are the semitendinosus (joins the sartorius muscle and gracilis muscle at the pes anserinus on the tibia) and the semimembranosus (the largest hamstring muscle). 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 bone") 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.

Your hamstrings are very long muscles that cross 2 joints (your hip and knee) therefore they are more prone to injury. Pulled hamstrings (also called strained hamstrings) are one of the most common injuries in vigorous sports activities; 33% of lower body injuries for those between 16-25 years of age are hamstring injuries.

These occur when one or more hamstring muscles are stretched beyond their limit or are in a vulnerable position, and the muscle tissues become strained or torn. The biceps femoris muscle is the most frequently injured, as it suffers the largest stretch during sprinting, followed by the semitendinosus muscle. If you have a multi-muscle injury, it normally occurs at the point where your hamstring muscles and tendons meet (musculotendinous junction). However, they can also occur at any place along your hamstring muscle bellies, or at the tendon attachments to the bone.

Acute strains are caused by direct hit, fall or overloading, whereas chronic pulls are generally caused by overuse or prior unhealed injuries. The damage can range from overstretching to partial tearing to complete rupturing of the small fibers that make up your hamstring muscles.

These injuries occur most often early in the activity as a result of a poor warm up, or in the later stages of practices or games as a result of fatigue. Young, active teens or adults between 25-44 years are most susceptible to pulled hamstrings, and men are twice as likely to be injured as women.

Other common hamstring injuries involve hamstring contusions (bruising or hemorrhaging beneath unbroken skin), hamstring tendonitis or tendinopathy, or avulsion fractures (a severely pulled hamstring will tear a piece of bone with it). This generally occurs where the hamstring tendon attaches to the ischial tuberosity.

Weak hamstring muscles also play a role in knee or low back injuries (cause your pelvis to tilt). If you allow hamstring injuries to persist they can lead to repeated injury, periostitis (inflammation of the periosteum), and prolonged disability. They are often confused with sciatic neuritis.

Alternate names and/or associated conditions:

Hamstring pull, hamstring strain, strained hamstring, hamstring tendonitis, hamstring tendinopathy, hamstring syndrome, avulsion injury, posterior femoral muscle strain, hamstring tear, periostitis, hamstring muscle contusion, bursitis of semimembranosus or ishio-gluteal, chronic compartment syndrome of posterior thigh, hamstring scar tissue, sciatic neuritis, Myositis Ossificans

Treating Your Hamstring Pull

If you have a hamstring pull or strain, resting it is recommended. Avoid activities that cause pain or may have caused the strain and begin cold compression treatments as soon as possible.

There are healing tools that can help treat your hamstring pull and speed up the healing process so you can reduce your pain and get back to daily life. Ultrasound thereapy is an easy and effective way to promote healing in your muscles while reducing the amount of scar tissue that forms during the healing process. Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™ (BFST^®) will promote blood flow to heal your hamstring pull faster and more completely than any other methods available.

Freezie Wrap^® Cold Compression Therapy

To decrease inflammation of your muscle pull when the strain first occurs doctor's recommend cold compression therapy. For an acute strain, cold compression therapy within the first 48 - 72 hours and after any restrain is important to limit the amount of damage done to your tissue. Cold compression therapy will relieve pain and swelling as needed and will reduce, or even eliminate, the need for NSAIDs and pain medications.

The Leg/Arm Freezie Wrap^® is the cold compression tool you need to treat your hamstring pain in an effective and convenient way. It is so versatile it can be worn anywhere on your body, wherever you need treatment.

Cold Compression Therapy works by interrupting and slowing nerve and cell function in the injured area and reducing swelling that can block blood vessels. This is important because once blood vessels are blocked or damaged, they can no longer carry oxygenated blood through your hamstring muscles and tissue cells begin to break-down. Without cold compression therapy cellular break-down and tissue damage continues as the cells do not get the oxygen they need to survive. By limiting the amount of damage done to your tissue, you also limit the amount of healing that needs to occur. This is a very important step to heal your muscle strain faster and with less pain!

The deep cooling effect provided by the Freezie Wrap^® slows cell metabolism thereby reducing cellular break-down and tissue damage. Furthermore, because the cold wraps gently numb the nerves, the wraps also reduce pain!

The Freezie Wrap^® uses a supercharged cooling gel pack, that chills in the fridge, not in the freezer like ice or other freezer packs, giving you deep cold therapy without the risk of 'cold burns' or cryoburn.

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Ultrasound Therapy

Ultrasound therapy is a great therapeutic option to compliment your BFST^® treatments. Ultrasound therapy will decrease inflammation and pain and soften scar tissue. Therapeutic ultrasonic waves increase tissue elasticity while promoting healing in your hamstring muscles by opening up the blood vessels to allow greater blood flow.

If you are experiencing pain in your hip, knee, or ankle because of your hamstring injury, you can use therpeutic ultrasound to treat these areas as well. With hamstring pain you often readjust your posture and gait to take the pressure off. This puts extra pressure on other parts of your body and can cause strain. Using a home ultrasound will allow you to treat all the areas that need to heal easily and help you maintain a healthier body.

During the healing process, scar tissue builds up to 'repair' the damaged tissue. Unfortunately, scar tissue can bind your muscle fibers and other tissue together abnormally. The inflexible scar tissue causes more pain and limits range of motion.

If scar tissue is left untreated, your hamstring may stiffen making movement difficult and in some cases, impossible. At the very least, scar tissue leaves your muscles weaker, leaving you at greater risk of further injury. Fortunately, you can treat your hamstring muscles with MendMeShop^® Ultrasound System to soften scar tissue and improve the tightness in your leg.

Ultrasound can also be used to administer therapeutic medicines deep into your injured hamstring muscles. This is a process known as phonophoresis. Ultrasound therapy with phonophoresis is rapidly becoming more popular than ultrasound therapy alone.

Therapeutic ultrasound with phonophoresis is safe, convenient, and easy and requires 5-10 minutes per treatment. It is based on a form of deep tissue therapy, which is generated through high frequency sound waves (that we can not hear). These waves send micro vibrations into your body and carry medicated molecules within the ultrasound gel deep into your muscle tissue to enhance your ultrasound therapy. Ultrasound waves and medicated ultrasound gel penetrate deep to relax your muscles, decrease inflammation and accelerate your recovery rate, so you can return to your daily activities as soon as possible.

Using MendMeShop^® Lavender Infusion Ultrasound Gel during your ultrasound therapy gives you 2 therapies in 1. You get the benefit of the regenerating sound waves from the ultrasound device itself AND the added bonus of the therapeutic ingredients inside the gel being delivered into your hamstring muscles where it is most effective to reduce your pain and heal. 1 FREE bottle of MendMeShop^® Lavender Infusion Ultrasound Gel comes with every MendMeShop^® Ultrasound Systemand it contains the therapeutic essential oils of natural Bulgarian lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, and menthol.

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Once the inflammation of your hamstring pull has been reduced, nourishing and strengthening the muscle tissue and surrounding area is recommended. Using Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™ will speed your recovery and heal your muscle fibers more completely preparing them for strengthening exercises. Talk to your doctor or physical therapist to find out which exercises are appropriate for your situation.

Inferno Wrap^® Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™

After severe inflammation and swelling is reduced you can begin to treat your hamstring with Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy^™ (BFST^®). BFST^® increases the amount of blood that flows naturally to your muscle fibers to nourish your soft tissue which speeds healing.

When you rest your leg and stop moving around because it hurts, the natural blood flow to your muscles is reduced, limiting your body's ability to heal itself.

By treating your hamstring muscles with BFST^® you can increase your body's blood supply to the muscle fibers and increase your body's natural healing power.

The Inferno Wrap^® is the tool you need to treat your sore hamstring because not only does it speed healing, it relaxes all your muscles. With BFST^®, tissues are safely and gently stimulated. Your body responds with a rapid increase in blood flow to the area, increasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to injured tissue cells to promote healing and loosen the tissue. Our Leg/Arm Inferno Wrap^® provides effective, non-invasive, non-addictive pain relief and healing with no side effects.

In addition, the improved blood flow whisks away dead cells and toxins that have built up from your hamstring strain, further reducing tightness and pain. When you stop moving your leg due to hamstring pain, your muscles and other tissue can become weaker and dead cells and toxins in the area can cause further tissue deterioration - this can lead to atrophy (muscle weakness and/or deterioration). By clearing the area of toxins and increasing the amount of oxygen and nutrients to your muscle and other tissue, the risk of atrophy is greatly reduced. Keeping your leg muscle tissue as healthy as possible throughout the healing process will allow you to improve leg and hip strength again once your pain has gone and your strain has healed.

Click here to learn more about how BFST^® and Inferno Wraps^® work.

With these 3 easy therapies, cold compression, ultrasound and BFST^®, you will notice significantly reduced pain and an incredible improvement in your hamstring pain.

During your recovery, you may have to modify and/or eliminate any activities that cause pain or discomfort in your hamstring until your pain and inflammation settle. The more diligent you are with your treatment and rehabilitation, the faster you will see successful results!

Please be aware that this information is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider before starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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