FEATURE / DR MARTIN McINTYRE, M.MED.SCI., BSC., H.DIP

Hamstring Injuries in the first half of the 23/24 season accounted for 2,319 days lost in the Premier League, the greatest of all injuries (Sky Sports 2023) with 13% of all players reported to experience a hamstring issue (Maniar et al., 2023). The research indicates incidence is increasing with hamstring injury occurrence doubling from 12% to 24% over a 20 year period (Ekstrand et al., 2022). It is widely debated that increases in sprinting speeds and match exposure are contributing factors. With the great advances in performance and conditioning, in propelling our players to record speeds, how can we improve from a performance context that is predisposing our players to hamstring risk? Advances in screening, technology and sports science have led to the introduction of pre-session screening, monitoring fatigue and recovery, but what are we missing ? We know that there are a large number of risk factors associated with hamstring injury however, previous injury is still the strongest risk factor and with a relatively high reoccurrence rate which may indicate that our sensitivity to identifying underlying deficits needs to improve. Subsequently, with this is mind, one would think we need to re-examine our approach and in the spirit of one great English detective, examine the “Elementary”, “Basic” and “Fundamental” clues to solving these issues.