Nightmare legs...PLEASE HELP!

Hello all,

I realise that there are a thousand hamstring related threads on here but I wasn't able to find one which really applied to me so sorry in advance!

I am 23, very athletic, football player and have had constant hamstring problems since i tore it pretty badly about 2 years ago. However, the problems are, oddly, not limited to the leg of the original injury. I am a fast sprinter and find that it is after a few seconds of being up at full speed i feel it ping...and from there I knw from experience it is one more sprint from failing completely and having to stop activity. The injury is liable to happen in either leg and I was told by a sports physio a couple of years back that it may be due to a combo of flat feet, posture, running position and a bowing of the legs.

I have since improved my posture and tried to change my running style but apart from this are there any other measures i can take to prevent the injury? I am a regular gym goer so are there any extra exercises to incorporate into my legs workout which may strengthen specific mucles to support me? I would also be very appreciative if you could suggest a basic fitness test i could carry out alone to see if my hamstring has recovered.

I'm currently on the sidelines after my THIRD hamstring injury since August and so would be very grateful for any help you could give me.

Many thanks

One of the hardest but most effective in reducing hamstring pain is the nordic hamstring exercises. in kneeling with your heels secure you lean forward to get your nose to touch the ground and return - near impossible initially. Took the girls in my year who were doing a study on it 6 months before they could do it. More recently the exercise has been turned into a drop catch - very good for the tendon... hense you drop then catch with your hamstrings - you'll fail everytime, it's pretty much impossible and hense you plant the ground and push yourself back to upright...

words of warning - very hard exercise! and you must get into it graded... your best to have a very good Personal Trainer or a physio guiding you through it - with recurrant hamstring pain you will need to be sure you won't pull your hamstring doing the exercise.

When your pain occurs in both legs then it is very valid to assess ankle knee hip and lumbar spine. ensure you have appropriate footwear.

Perhaps revisit the sports physio and get further assessment and ask them about the nordic hamstring exercise - it's operating on the Mechanotherapy principal by Kham and Scott in Br J Soprts Med 2009 - free to find online for the therapist if they aren't up to date.

Have a good one.

Thanks for the advice. I'll begin the nordic exercise this week i think. Sounds great for strengthening the hams. I'll also look into seeing a physio, hopefully he can re-jig my alignment and sort it out!

cheers