Original title: Effects of rehabilitation interventions on time to return to play and reinjury rate in athletes with acute hamstring strain injuries
The review compares ways to help athletes recover from sudden hamstring injuries. It combines results from 14 randomized trials, where athletes were assigned to different treatments. Exercises that focus on lengthening the hamstring may shorten the time until athletes return to play, without increasing reinjury risk. Other approaches, including agility training and added treatments, have uncertain results. The evidence is not equally strong for every finding.
Imagine trying to get back to a team sport after pulling a muscle. You want to return quickly, but rushing can mean getting hurt again. In this paper, the different ways of practicing during recovery are compared by how soon athletes return and whether the injury comes back; exercises that focus on lengthening the muscle may help athletes return sooner, while evidence for several other choices is unclear.
A hamstring injury can keep an athlete out of play, and returning too soon may bring the injury back. This review suggests one exercise approach may shorten recovery, but evidence for other rehabilitation options is much less certain.
The review does not establish that every rehabilitation approach works, or that the lengthening-focused protocol prevents reinjury; evidence for that outcome is low certainty. PATS and several added treatments remain uncertain, with some findings based on only one or two trials. The authors also note clinical differences between trials and concerns about whether results apply more broadly.
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Effects of rehabilitation interventions on time to return to play and reinjury rate in athletes with acute hamstring strain injuries — Junshuai Zhu, Shuaiwang Huang, Shuyuan Luo et al. — Scientific Reports — doi:10.1038/s41598-026-70693-1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.