The hamstring muscle is actually a group or set of muscles that work together, so it seems like it is one long muscle. This muscle is at the back part of the thigh. The hamstring muscle crosses over two joints or rather helps in the movement of two joints- the hip joint and the knee joint. It comes into play when flexing the knee and extending the hip. One can say it has a bit of a dual function as a flexor and extensor. Both, the knee and the hip joint are used when running, walking, jumping; all these actions are a vital part of sports.

There are many types of sports – indoor sports, outdoor sports. In most minds, sports – is equivalant to vigorous active physical activity. There are some sports where there is no physical activity and the only so called muscle to be stretched is the mind as in chess. In this hub, I am talking to you about the physical aspect of sports.

If you wish to be successful in any sport that you take up, it is crucial that you undergo training and practice for that sport. Physical training and practise help you excel in the game, and also to bring your body to its best physical form. Physical training and practise will help you increase stamina and your motor skill coordination required for the game.

When you train for a sport or play a sport, you put your body through various physical actions such as running, stretching, twisting, turning, jumping, hitting, kicking, throwing, falling etc. sometimes you subject your body to compound actions such as running and throwing simultaneously, or dribbling a ball and dodging an opponent. When you subject your body to this type of activity every day, it goes without saying that there is bound to be a certain amount of muscle wear and tear in your body. The first day of a new activity is usually painful as you discover you have muscles you never knew of, and whats more, they are now protesting.

The human body is very adapting in nature. When you begin and new sport or sports training, you experience some amount of soreness in your muscles, and as you go on, the body just heals and adapts itself to the new levels of stress you are subjecting it to.

Many dream of bring able to play tennis or baseball like their favorite champions on the field, but are unwilling to put in the time and effort required for training. Some dream of an ideal fit body, the 6 pack abs or 8pack abs and fantastic figure etc, they go to the gym intermittently, or take up exercise with a gusto and then just stop. This invariably ends up causing some amount of damage to their muscles.

When you are starting a new physical activity, it is very important for you to first make a commitment to continue that activity. This is because you will bring into play various muscles in your body that you have not used or strained before. Typically, most people start out with great enthusiasm, it is natural in the beginning and they overdo things on the first day itself, which creates so much pain in the body, and pushing themselves on day two is an effort and day 3 is even more of an effort and it results in them quitting before they get going.

Injuries when playing sports is common phenomenon. The most common type of injury one suffers is the pulled muscle, and the most commonly pulled muscle is the hamstring. It is not necessary that you will injure your hamstring only if you are playing sports. You can injure it if you skid or slip or run up the stairs two at a time if you are not used to it.

The hamstring muscle can be injured when you have not been running, or doing any kind of physical activity and you suddenly need to run or jump, or when you do not warm up before starting a work out, or

when you indulge in playing games too vigorously only on weekends or holidays, without training the muscle.

Another important factor could be that you have one strong leg and one weak leg- could be due to any injury, so you favor one leg and overuse the other, so you end up having one strong hamstring and one weak hamstring. Overuse of the stronger hamstring or sjubjecting it to too much stress may also cause it injury.

Treatment for a pulled hamstring muscle:

A pulled hamstring muscle can be very painful.Treatment for a pulled hamstring muscle will depend upon the severity or extent of injury. In most cases, resting the muscle is of paramount importance. Some advise using pain balms, and cold compresses to reduce the inflammation of the muscle. You may even want to keep your weight off your injured leg. Basically, the muscle should first be treated to let the inflammation subside, and then gradually let it heal, before you can resume activity.