Hamstring Strain Rehabilitation Exercises

You can begin gently stretching your hamstring right away by doing standing hamstring stretch. Make sure you do not feel any sharp pain, only a mild discomfort in the back of your thigh when you are doing this stretch.

• Standing hamstring stretch: Place the heel of your leg on a stool about 15 inches high. Keep your knee straight. Lean forward, bending at the hips until you feel a mild stretch in the back of your thigh. Make sure you do not roll your shoulders and bend at the waist when doing this or you will stretch your lower back instead. Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

After the standing hamstring stretch has become easier, you can do the hamstring stretch on a wall. You should also stretch your calf muscle because it attaches near where your hamstring ends using the standing calf stretch.

• Hamstring stretch on wall: Lie on your back with your buttocks close to a doorway, and extend your legs straight out in front of you along the floor. Raise the injured leg and rest it against the wall next to the door frame. Your other leg should extend through the doorway. You should feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
• Standing calf stretch: Facing a wall, put your hands against the wall at about eye level. Keep the injured leg back, the uninjured leg forward, and the heel of your injured leg on the floor. Turn your injured foot slightly inward (as if you were pigeon-toed) as you slowly lean into the wall until you feel a stretch in the back of your calf. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times. Do this exercise several times each day.

When the pain is gone, start strengthening your hamstrings using the next 3 exercises.

• Prone knee bends: Lie on your stomach with your legs straight out behind you. Bend your knee so that your heel comes toward your buttocks. Hold 5 seconds. Relax and return your foot to the floor. Do 3 sets of 10. As this becomes easier you can add weights to your ankle.
• Elastic tubing hamstring curls: Sit in a chair facing a door (about 3 feet from the door). Loop and tie one end of the tubing around the ankle of your injured leg. Tie a knot in the other end of the tubing and shut the knot in the door. Bend your knee so that your foot slides along the floor and moves back underneath the chair, stretching the tubing. Slowly let your foot slide forward again. Do 3 sets of 10.

  You can challenge yourself by moving the chair farther away from the door and increasing the resistance of the tubing.

• Heel raises: Balance yourself while standing behind a chair or counter. Raise your body up onto your toes and hold it for 5 seconds, then slowly lower yourself down. Repeat 10 times. Do 3 sets of 10.

  You can challenge yourself by standing only on your injured leg and lifting your heel off the floor. Do 3 sets of 10.

After your hamstrings have become stronger and you feel your leg is stable, you can begin strengthening the quadriceps (the muscles in the front of the thigh) by doing the wall slide.

• Wall slide: Stand with your back, shoulders, and head against a wall and look straight ahead. Keep your shoulders relaxed and your feet 1 foot away from the wall and a shoulder's width apart. Keeping your head against the wall, slide down the wall, lowering your buttocks toward the floor until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Make sure to tighten the thigh muscles as you slowly slide back up to the starting position. Do 3 sets of 10. Increasing the amount of time you are in the lowered position helps strengthen your quadriceps muscles.