To understand hamstring injuries, you need to first know what hamstrings are. These are a group of three muscles located in the back of the thigh and facilitate the stretching of legs and bending of knees. One is likely to injure their hamstring muscles during strenuous workouts or while playing sports like football. Many factors can cause players to get injured, including less flexibility in the hamstrings, old age, fatigue, and lack of hamstring strength.

Hamstring injuries
A hamstring injury occurs when one or more of these muscles get strained or pulled. It often happens when a person moves suddenly and with force. A hamstring injury can occur in three stages; mild, partial, or severe strain.

Symptoms
A hamstring injury can cause sudden and sharp pain in the back of the thigh. Other than these, a person may also experience the following symptoms.

A ripping-up or bursting sensation in the thigh.
Swelling and tenderness after a few hours.
Bruising or change in skin tone at the back of the leg.
Muscle weakness (like not being able to put weight on the injured leg).

Causes
A hamstring strain occurs mainly due to muscle overload. When the entire weight of the body gets concentrated on the hamstring muscles, they stretch more than they are capable of and start to tear. People who are into rigorous forms of sports or take part in activities that involve jumping and sprinting have a higher chance of getting hamstring strains. These are very common in teenagers who are experiencing growth spurts. Since the leg bones grow faster than a person’s muscles, these age groups usually experience muscle strains. Other common causes include:

No warm-up before physical activities
If a person doesn’t do a little warm-up before exercising, there are more chances that the muscles will get strained.
Over-exercising
Sometimes, the muscles aren’t strong enough to take the exercise stress, so they get damaged. They also lose their ability to absorb energy and become prone to injuries faster.
Incorrect technique
If you don’t follow a proper running technique, there are chances that you will put stress on your hamstring muscles.
Restarting soon after an injury
You need to rest a lot before hamstring strains can heal completely. If you try to return to sports too soon, you will end up putting extra pressure on your already weak muscles, and you are more likely to injure your hamstrings again.

Treatment
Some of the treatment methods for hamstring injuries are as follows:

RICE formula
In the majority of hamstring injury cases, the muscle tear may be less severe. This means that only a part of the muscle gets torn. Such an injury can be treated with ice compression, rest, elevation, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory substances. Some people call it the RICE formula where R stands for rest, I for Ice: apply cold packs, C for compress: compress the thigh so that the swelling can be controlled and there is no additional movement of the muscle, and E for elevate: raise your leg and use a pillow to support your leg.
Therapy
If an injured person takes weeks of rest, followed by progressive functional physical therapy, they can recover within three to four weeks.
Surgery
In the case of complete hamstring tears, the muscles get retracted, which can lead to significant functional impairment. Athletes with such a condition can’t run or participate in sports that require agility. Since hamstring tears cause decreased strength and function, only surgery can completely fix the muscles.
Stretching
Individuals can add slow exercises to their routine to improve leg flexibility and strength.

Recovery
The recovery period for a hamstring injury depends upon the severity of the damage. It can take days, weeks, or even months to get well. If the injury is a completely torn hamstring, then it might even take months to heal. Individuals can’t resume any kind of sports activity or training till they have completely recovered.

In conclusion
A hamstring injury is usually seen in people who are involved in sports activities like sprinting, basketball, soccer, and more. It can also occur in dancers and runners. If the hamstring strain or pull is mild, then one can resort to self-care measures like rest and ice pack application to relieve the pain as well as swelling. This injury is not something that can’t be cured, but neglecting it will definitely worsen it. It is vital to be careful with any muscle and take rest before jumping back into strenuous activities.