‘A hamstring injury is a strain or tear to the tendons or large muscles at the back of the thigh. It’s a common injury in athletes and can occur in different severities….. The length of time it takes to recover from a hamstring strain or tear will depend on how severe the injury is. A minor muscle pull or strain (grade 1) may take a few days to heal, whereas it could take weeks or months to recover from a muscle tear (grade 2 or 3)’.
A hamstring injury is going to affect numerous aspects of your life, from basic walking to any sport you play. It is likely to be extremely sore if you do the wrong thing. The main concern is injuring the hamstring further by overstretching or exercising too early. Be careful with any pose that stretches your hamstring.
Yoga can help by:
- Strengthening in poses where the hamstring isn’t overstretched (like staff pose, bridge or cobra)
Do
- Rest and then gradually increase stretch making sure your injury is entirely happy the day after before stretching further.
- Bend your knees in all forward bends and poses which stretch the hamstrings until you are fully healed.
Don’t
- Poses exercise a lot of caution with forward bends, down dog
- Poses to avoid: All leg work for the first week after injury or longer if the hamstring is still inflamed.