Treating A Pulled Hamstring With Specialized Massage

By Morgan F Turley

Before seeking massage treatments for a pulled or strained hamstring, its important to understand what exactly happens during this type of injury and how to identify it. A pulled or strained hamstring is often referred to as a tear somewhere in the three muscles of the hamstring.

The hamstring muscles assist you in knee flexion and allowing you to move your thigh backwards at the hip. Injuries to the hamstring are common among runners (especially those who do hurdle jumping or sprinting), as well as those who play football.

If you experience a hamstring injury, youll be able to instantly recognize it by the sudden sharp pain youll feel at the back of the leg during the activity youre participating in. When you go to stretch this muscle, there will be pain in both the stretching of it, as well as the contracting of it. There are various levels of severity for hamstring injuries, and fortunately the majority of them can be remedied through a combination of diligent self-help and specialized sports massage targeted towards this area.

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Immediately following a hamstring injury, you must begin active involvement in treating the area. The first 48-hours are crucial, and this is the time where you must treat the injury yourself before even seeking out a massage therapist. Begin your treatment by using cold therapy. This involves the RICE technique, which addresses resting the area, icing it, compressing it, and then elevating it. A compression bandage may be used to keep any intra muscular bleeding to a minimum. Although you do not want to bring further injury to the hamstring, you should do some minimal stretching and strengthening exercises to keep the area from further swelling.

Once you have personally addressed the issue correctly for the first 48-hours, you should seek out a sports injury specialist who can provide you with massage care coupled with ultrasound and other treatments, depending on the severity of your injury.

Sports massage techniques are a crucial part of your hamstring injury rehab program. Massage will speed up your recovery as it keeps scar tissue creation to a minimum. This is down by breaking down the new collagen network forming as a result of the injury and ensures that muscle fiber realignment is done correctly. This massage therapy will also ensure that blood flow in the injured hamstring area is increased, making sure that circulation is even. Ultrasound is often utilized by the massage therapist, along with the specialized massage techniques. This stimulates muscle fibers and encourages the reconnection.

While the majority of hamstring injuries can be treated exclusively with a massage therapy program coupled with at-home stretches done on a daily basis, do not be alarmed if you do get referred to a conventional medical doctor to ensure no muscle ruptures occurred during the injury. A massage therapist who suspects that the injury is beyond their scope of practice will refer you out immediately for a consult and potential MRI. You may end up being referred back to the therapist if its discovered there is no surgical intervention necessary. Massage therapy is so beneficial for hamstring tears as it not only assists greatly in bringing you back to normal functioning, but also strengthens the area to prevent further injury.

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