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Rehabilitation of hamstring muscle injuries: a literature review

PainSci » bibliography » Ramos et al 2017
updated
Tags: treatment, strain, injury, pain problems, muscle

Three articles on PainSci cite Ramos 2017: 1. The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains2. A Historical Perspective On Aches ‘n’ Pains3. Trigger Point Doubts

PainSci commentary on Ramos 2017: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.

Yet another “garbage in, garbage out“ review of mostly hopelessly inadequate evidence, not enough for conclusions about any of the most popular treatments for one of the most common athletic injuries. A high profile injury with a clear nature, nothing subtle or weird or obscure. It’s 2017, and that’s all we’ve got? I’m starting to wonder if this is ever going to be fixed.

Not that the lack of evidence stops the authors for drawing conclusions anyway! They endorse several treatments based on not much, despite their own caveat that “the evidence of the effectiveness of these modalities in muscle injuries is not fully established due to the little scientific research on the topic.” It’s particularly troubling how enthusiastic they are about laser therapy, based on one citation to Alves et al (which is so lacking in discouraging words that a severe pro-laser bias is nearly certain). This is an evidence-informed expert opinion piece, not a true evidence review.

~ Paul Ingraham

original abstract Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

Hamstring injuries are among the most frequent in sports. The high relapse rate is a challenge for sports medicine and has a great impact on athletes and sport teams. The treatment goal is to provide the athlete the same functional level as before the injury. Thus, functional rehabilitation is very important to the success of the treatment. Currently, several physical therapy modalities are used, according to the stage of the lesion, such as cryotherapy, laser therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, therapeutic exercise, and manual therapy. However, the evidence of the effectiveness of these modalities in muscle injuries is not fully established due to the little scientific research on the topic. This article presents an overview of the physiotherapy approach in the rehabilitation of hamstring muscle injuries.

This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:

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