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Recurrent hamstring muscle injury: applying the limited evidence in the professional football setting with a seven-point programme
  1. Peter Brukner1,
  2. Andrew Nealon1,
  3. Christopher Morgan1,
  4. Darren Burgess1,
  5. Andrew Dunn2
  1. 1Departmernt of Sports Medicine and Sports Science, Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool, UK
  2. 2North West Musculoskeletal Imaging, Liverpool, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Peter Brukner, c/- 158 Unity Building, 3 Rumford Place, Liverpool L3 9BW, UK; peterbrukner{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Recurrent hamstring injuries are a major problem in sports such as football. The aim of this paper was to use a clinical example to describe a treatment strategy for the management of recurrent hamstring injuries and examine the evidence for each intervention. A professional footballer sustained five hamstring injuries in a relatively short period of time. The injury was managed successfully with a seven-point programme—biomechanical assessment and correction, neurodynamics, core stability, eccentric strengthening, an overload running programme, injection therapies and stretching/relaxation. The evidence for each of these treatment options is reviewed. It is impossible to be definite about which aspects of the programme contributed to a successful outcome. Only limited evidence is available in most cases; therefore, decisions regarding the use of different treatment modalities must be made by using a combination of clinical experience and research evidence.

  • Hamstring Injuries
  • Muscle Damage/Injuries
  • Exercise Rehabilitation
  • Soccer
  • Soft Tissue Injuries

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

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