Hamstring injury
The back of the thigh is made up of three muscles running from the sitting bone down to the bones of the lower leg, which means they work across two joints at…
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Medicines commonly prescribed for Hamstring injury
For informational purposes only. Always consult a doctor before using any medicine.
Dosage form: ORAL SOLUTION/SUSPENSION, 600 mgActive substance: ibuprofenManufacturer: Laboratorio Stada S.L.Prescription requiredDosage form: TABLET, 500 mgActive substance: paracetamolManufacturer: Galenicum Health S.L.Prescription not requiredDosage form: TABLET, 650 mg paracetamolActive substance: paracetamolManufacturer: Laboratorio Stada S.L.Prescription required
The back of the thigh is made up of three muscles running from the sitting bone down to the bones of the lower leg, which means they work across two joints at once: they extend the hip and bend the knee. That is why they take the greatest strain in fast running, a sudden lunge or a kick at a ball, and why they tear more often than any other muscle in the leg. A minor injury settles on its own within a week or two, a serious one takes months of treatment, and there is one version in which waiting is not an option at all. Working out which you have depends less on how much it hurts than on the circumstances of the moment and on what you can do with the leg the next day.
What tears, and why it usually happens while running
A muscle is not injured while it shortens but while it is stretched under tension. For the hamstrings that instant comes at the end of the forward swing of the leg: the muscle is already stretched to its limit and is simultaneously braking the shin so it does not snap straight. Hence the two typical patterns.
- The sprinting type. An acceleration, a sprint, a burst to reach the ball: sharp pain mid-stride, usually in the middle of the thigh or towards its outer edge. These tears generally heal faster.
- The stretching type. A high kick, the splits, a deep lunge, a fall while reaching for the ball: the pain sits high up, near the buttock crease. It looks less dramatic but heals more slowly and recurs more readily.
The risk rises markedly if the muscles are not warmed up, if the person is tired near the end of a session or a match, if they have not run at speed for a long time, and also if the same leg has been injured before. Previous injury is the strongest known risk factor, which is exactly why a half-treated tear costs more than it appears to.
What it feels like and how bad it is
The moment of tearing is almost always recognisable: sudden pain at the back of the thigh, as though someone had struck it from behind; the person grabs the leg and stops. Sometimes a snap is heard. Swelling follows within hours, and a day or two later a bruise that travels down towards the knee, because the blood tracks under the skin — that part is normal.
Severity is judged by what remains possible.
- Minor. A tender spot on pressing, near-normal walking, pain on running. Little swelling and possibly no bruise at all. Recovery runs from a few days to a couple of weeks.
- Moderate. An obvious limp, clear weakness when bending the knee against resistance, marked swelling and bruising. Here the timescale is weeks, sometimes six to eight.
- Severe. Putting weight on the leg is barely possible, a gap can be felt under the fingers, and the bruise is extensive and appears quickly. This is a complete tear or the tendon pulling off the bone, and it needs a doctor and sometimes surgery.
Separate from all this is pain that did not start in a single moment but built up over weeks and is worst when sitting on a hard surface. That is not a tear but overload of the tendon where it attaches to the bone, and it is treated the other way round: with graded loading rather than rest.
The first few days
The job of the first two or three days is to limit the bleeding and avoid adding damage, not to heal the muscle.
- Stop immediately. Trying to "run it off" turns a partial tear into a full one, and that is the commonest reason an injury stretches into months.
- Cold through a cloth for fifteen to twenty minutes, repeated every couple of hours on the first day. It eases pain; contrary to popular belief it has little effect on how fast healing happens.
- An elastic bandage or compression shorts on the thigh, firm but not so tight that the toes go numb or the foot turns cold. Take it off at night.
- Keep the leg raised when you are lying down.
- For the first three days avoid heat, hot baths, deep massage of the area and alcohol: all of them increase the bleeding.
- Do not stretch the muscle through pain. Aggressive stretching over a fresh tear pulls the edges of the injury apart rather than loosening anything.
Complete rest is not needed either, and it does harm: from the first or second day it is worth walking carefully as far as pain allows and gently bending and straightening the knee within the pain-free range. A muscle that does nothing loses strength quickly and lays down a poorer scar. Ordinary over-the-counter painkillers will do for the pain; which one to choose is a question for the pharmacist or doctor, especially if you already take something regularly.
When it is not just a pulled muscle
Some situations are no place for home treatment. See a doctor the same day if:
- you cannot put weight on the leg, or you can only walk with support;
- there was a distinct pop at the moment of injury, followed straight away by a large bruise high on the thigh and under the buttock;
- a dip can be felt under the fingers in the upper thigh, or the muscle has bunched up lower than it should be;
- numbness, pins and needles or shooting pain runs down to the foot, or the foot lifts less well: that is how an involved sciatic nerve behaves;
- the injury happened to a teenager who is still growing: in them it is not the tendon that pulls off but a piece of bone with its growth plate, and that is managed differently;
- the pain came on without any injury at all, or comes with a temperature.
Tendons pulling off the sitting bone are the case where delay changes the outcome. If they are to be repaired, it should happen within the following weeks: later the tendon ends retract and scar down, the operation becomes harder and the result poorer. So "a pop plus being unable to walk" is not a reason to wait a week but a reason to be seen and, in all likelihood, scanned.
One more thing rarely gets considered. If a few days after the injury the calf becomes painful and swollen, feels warm and looks red, especially alongside breathlessness, this may be a clot in the deep veins, and it is dealt with urgently, up to and including calling an ambulance (in Europe, 112). Being immobile after a leg injury raises that risk slightly.
Getting back to loading the leg
Healing takes weeks, but regaining strength is not a passive process: it happens exactly to the extent that the muscle is loaded. The general order of things is this.
- While movement hurts, work with static holds: lying on your back, press the heel into the floor and hold without moving, as long as it stays pain-free.
- Next come movements against the weight of the leg itself, then against resistance, and finally exercises in which the muscle contracts while lengthening: lowering the trunk slowly on one leg, hamstring curls, hinging forward with straight legs. It is this kind of work that restores the muscle's tolerance to a sudden pull.
- Running is added once ordinary and brisk walking are pain-free: easy first, then strides, and only at the very end sprinting and ball work.
The markers for returning to sport are straightforward: full pain-free range, no tenderness over the injured spot, strength in the injured leg roughly matching the other, and several sessions at speed without any twinge. If the tear was substantial or this is not the first one, the programme is better built with a physiotherapist, who will also spot what needs correcting: pelvic mobility, weak glutes, running technique.
Why the injury comes back
Recurrence is the central problem here: a substantial share of people tear the same muscle again, and most often within the first two months of returning. The reason is nearly always the same — the return was scheduled by the calendar rather than by condition. The pain went before the strength came back, and the first sprint found the weak point.
What genuinely lowers the risk:
- regular exercises in which the hamstrings work while lengthening, the single best-supported preventive measure, kept up continuously rather than for a month;
- a warm-up that includes gradual accelerations and not just stretching;
- building running volume and speed without sharp jumps, particularly after a break;
- attention to fatigue: most tears happen in second halves and at the end of sessions;
- finishing rehabilitation from the previous injury properly, even once running no longer hurts.
Online consultation
A remote appointment settles the main question of the first week: whether this is an ordinary injury that can be managed at home or a situation that needs examination and imaging, and how urgently. The doctor goes through how the injury happened, where it hurts and what you can and cannot do with the leg, explains what helps in the early days and what to avoid, and advises when to start adding load and when to see a physiotherapist. It is also a convenient way to discuss pain that is still there a month on, or a repeat tear. The signs listed above — being unable to weight-bear, numbness, a swollen calf — are not assessed through a screen: those need examining in person.
This material is for information only and does not replace medical advice.
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