Hey guys, Justin here. Today I wanted to talk to you about hamstring strains. They're a very common injury. They happen to sportspeople quite a lot, and they're primarily caused by imbalance between the quadriceps and the muscles at the back, your hamstrings, which run from your hip, all the way down to the knee.
Hamstring strains are typically classified in grade one, grade two or grade three. Grade one is when you've just got a bit of a pulled muscle. Grade two is when there's a bit of tearing of some of the fibers, and you get a bit of bleeding from that. Grade three is when there's a complete rupture of the muscle and you might actually feel a trough or an actual misshape in the muscle. So it can be quite bad. The best thing to do when you have a suspected hamstring strain, or pain in the back of your leg when you're running or playing sports, kicking a ball typically, anything like that, is to just follow the basic first aid principle which is now R.I.C.E.R. So it's rest, ice, compression, elevation and referral. Following on from the R.I.C.E.R. principle, the best thing to do when you have a suspected strain is put ice on it every two hours for about up to 20 minutes. Always make sure there's something covering the icepack so that you don't get a burn. And then, of course, it's always best to consult with a healthcare professional, whether that's a physio. And come in and see us so that you can rehabilitate the injury properly.