Hamstring strain rehabilitation in Canberra.
The biggest risk after a hamstring tear is the next one. Criteria-based rehab with progressive eccentric loading, sprint retraining and objective return-to-sport testing, because 'it feels fine' isn't a test.
- Sprint & kicking sport injuries
- Criteria-based, not calendar-based
- Eccentric & sprint-specific loading
- Objective RTS strength testing
Understanding hamstring strains.
Hamstring strains are the most common injury in running-based sport, a sudden pain in the back of the thigh during sprinting, kicking or overstretching. Severity ranges from low-grade strains that settle in weeks to higher-grade tears (and rarer tendon injuries) that need longer, more careful management.
The defining problem is recurrence: re-injury rates are high, and most re-injuries happen early after return, usually because rehab stopped at 'pain-free jogging' instead of rebuilding sprint-speed strength. Eccentric strength at long muscle lengths and progressive exposure to actual sprinting are the two things the evidence is clearest about.
How we treat it.
After grading the injury, rehab progresses through criteria-based stages: early loading within pain limits (not rest), progressive strengthening biased toward eccentric and long-length work – Nordic curls, sliders and hip-extension variants, and a structured running progression that reintroduces acceleration and top-end speed deliberately.
Return to sport is decided by testing, not feel: strength symmetry, long-length capacity, and completed sprint exposures at match intensity. For teams-sport athletes we also plan the ongoing weekly eccentric dose that keeps the re-injury risk down after return.
Rehab stages
- Grade & irritability assessment
- Early loading & running foundation
- Eccentric & long-length strengthening
- Sprint progression → RTS testing
Return-to-sport criteria
- Pain-free maximal sprinting
- Eccentric strength symmetry
- Long-length strength capacity
- Completed match-intensity training week
Funding: This program can be funded through NDIS (self- and plan-managed), DVA (D904 referral), Medicare CDM (GP care plan), Workers Comp/CTP, private health or self-pay. We confirm the right pathway at your first visit.
What the evidence says.
Hamstring strains recur at miserable rates, roughly one in three within a year, when rehab stops at jog without pain. The trial evidence favours programs that load the hamstring at long muscle lengths early, Askling's lengthening protocol returned athletes faster than conventional rehab in randomised studies, and eccentric strength work of the Nordic curl family cuts recurrence sharply when maintained. The lesson: the hamstring must be rebuilt strong in the exact lengthened, high speed positions where it tore.
How I treat it.
Early phase: settle the acute strain with protected movement, not total rest. Then progressive loading biased toward long length strength, and a running progression that reintroduces speed deliberately, because sprinting is the event that injures hamstrings and the capacity that protects them. Testing gates the return: strength symmetry, lengthened position tolerance, and sprint exposure before you go back to competition.
Then the part everyone skips: a maintenance dose of eccentric work through the season, which is where the recurrence statistics are actually beaten.
What we aim for.
- Return to sprinting on tested criteria, not the calendar
- Long length strength matched side to side
- Top speed rebuilt before match play demands it
- Breaking the strain and re strain cycle for good
Frequently asked.
Related pages.
Recent literature behind this program.
A selection of the research and clinical guidelines that inform how this condition is managed at Fitness & Wellbeing Physiology.
- Green B, Bourne MN, van Dyk N, Pizzari T. Recalibrating the risk of hamstring strain injury (HSI): a 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis of risk factors for index and recurrent HSI in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2020;54:1081–1088.
- Askling CM, Tengvar M, Thorstensson A. Acute hamstring injuries in Swedish elite football: a prospective randomised controlled clinical trial comparing two rehabilitation protocols. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2013;47:953–959.
- van der Horst N, Smits DW, Petersen J, Goedhart EA, Backx FJG. The preventive effect of the Nordic hamstring exercise on hamstring injuries in amateur soccer players: a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Sports Medicine 2015;43:1316–1323.
Evidence summaries are provided for information only and are not a substitute for individual clinical assessment.
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Same-week availability for NDIS, DVA, CDM, CTP and private clients.
Prefer to call? 0418 153 608 · or email admin@fwphysiology.com