A hamstring injury can shut down your training overnight. Whether it grabbed during a sprint, a heavy deadlift, or an aggressive stretch, or has been building as a deep ache under the glute that gets worse with speed or sitting, the question is always the same: how soon can I get back, and will it happen again?
How we approach hamstring injuries
If you have been stretching it, you may be making it worse. With an acute hamstring strain, stretching repeats the mechanism that caused the injury. With a chronic tendinopathy, the tissue needs heavy loading, not lengthening. The first thing we do is determine which type you are dealing with, because the rehab path differs significantly. We assess where the injury sits, how it responds to load, and what the demands of your sport require from the hamstring. That gives us a clear starting point.
What treatment looks like
For acute strains, we protect the tissue early, avoid stretching, and introduce gradual isotonic loading as the tissue heals. For hamstring tendinopathies (the deep sit-bone ache that gets worse with speed or prolonged sitting), treatment involves heavy, slow concentric work through Romanian deadlifts and hip thrusts, progressing to eccentric loading and eventually sport-specific drills. Both types follow a structured return to sport that respects the tissue’s timeline.
Who can help
Any of our physiotherapists can assess and treat hamstring injuries. If you are a runner, Nicholas Ho and Isabelle Chow both work with runners and can assess what your posterior chain needs. If you are a lifter, TJ Chen can assess the hamstring in the context of deadlift and squat mechanics. For acute tears from contact sport, Daniel Ng handles acute trauma and can manage the early phase alongside a structured return.
Go deeper
We have two guides relevant to hamstring injuries. One covers hamstring pain in detail, including the clinical differences between strains and tendinopathies. The other covers muscle strains more broadly. Read the hamstring guide → | Read the muscle strain guide →