Why Hamstring Injuries Are So Common in Sport

Darren Bezzina
Sep 22, 2025
3 min read

One sprint, one sharp movement, and suddenly — a player pulls up holding the back of their leg. If you’ve watched football, rugby, athletics, or almost any sport, you’ve seen it happen. Hamstring injuries are everywhere. But why? And more importantly — can we prevent them?

How Common Are Hamstring Injuries?

Hamstring injuries are among the most frequent injuries in sport, particularly in sports with sprinting, kicking, or explosive changes of direction. In elite football, hamstring strains account for 19% of all injuries (Ekstrand et al., 2011). They also have a frustrating tendency to come back — with recurrence rates as high as 30%.

Why the Hamstrings Are at Risk

The hamstrings (a group of three muscles at the back of the thigh) are exposed to huge demands in sport:

High-Speed Running - During the late swing phase of sprinting, the hamstrings work eccentrically — lengthening while contracting — to decelerate the leg. This is when they are most vulnerable.
Explosive Actions - Kicking, cutting, and jumping put extra strain on the hamstrings, especially when movements are sudden and powerful.
Muscle Imbalance - Weak or undertrained hamstrings compared to the quadriceps increase injury risk.
Fatigue - Tired muscles lose coordination and force, making them more likely to fail.

The Science of Prevention

The good news: research has identified effective ways to reduce hamstring injuries. The most famous is the Nordic hamstring exercise, which strengthens the hamstrings eccentrically (Mjølsnes et al., 2004). Teams that consistently include Nordics in training have reported up to 70% fewer hamstring injuries (Ekstrand et al., 2022).

Other key strategies include:

Sprint Training: Exposing the hamstrings to high-speed running in training prepares them for game demands.
Strength Training: Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, and glute-ham raises build hamstring strength and resilience.
Flexibility & Mobility: Maintaining hip and hamstring flexibility reduces excessive strain.
Load Management: Avoiding sudden spikes in training intensity lowers risk.

Why It Matters in Malta

Hamstring injuries are a common story in Maltese football and athletics, often treated reactively with rest and physiotherapy rather than proactive prevention. By embedding evidence-based training — like Nordics and structured sprint drills — local athletes can reduce injuries and spend more time playing, less time rehabbing.

Key Takeaways

Hamstring injuries are among the most common in sport, especially in sprinting and kicking sports.
The main risk is during high-speed running when the hamstrings work eccentrically.
Prevention strategies like the Nordic hamstring exercise are proven to work.
Maltese sport needs to shift from treatment to prevention.

References

Ekstrand, J., Hägglund, M., & Waldén, M. (2011). Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). American Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(6), 1226–1232.
Ekstrand, J., Bengtsson, H., Walden, M., Davison, M., & Hagglund, M. (2022). Still poorly adopted in male professional football: but teams that used the Nordic Hamstring Exercise in team training had fewer hamstring injuries–a retrospective survey of 17 teams of the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study during the 2020–2021 season. BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 8(3), e001368.
Mjølsnes, R., Arnason, A., Østhagen, T., Raastad, T., & Bahr, R. (2004). A 10-week randomized trial comparing eccentric vs. concentric hamstring strength training in well-trained soccer players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 14(5), 311–317.
Petersen, J., Thorborg, K., Nielsen, M. B., Budtz-Jørgensen, E., & Holmich, P. (2011). Preventive effect of eccentric training on acute hamstring injuries in men’s soccer. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(11), 2296–2303.
Sanfilippo, J., Silder, A. M. Y., Sherry, M. A., Tuite, M. J., & Heiderscheit, B. C. (2013). Hamstring strength and morphology progression after return to sport from injury. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 45(3), 448.