šāāļøš„ Why Do Hamstring Injuries Keep Happening For AFL Footballers ā Even With Good Training?
- Julian Simpson
- Jan 14
- 3 min read
šāāļøš„ Why Do Hamstring Injuries Keep Happening For AFL Footballers ā Even With Good Training?
Hamstring strains are one of the most common and frustrating injuries in sport ā and despite decades of research, they havenāt decreased in frequency.
In elite Australian Football, each team still averages around seven hamstring injuries per season, costing players weeks of game time and increasing the risk of re-injury.
So why is this still happening?
A large, high-quality study looked at whether training load, hamstring strength, and muscle structure could explain who gets injured ā and who doesnāt.
The answer?š Itās complicated ā and that matters for your care.
š Key Findings (The Important Bits)
2ļøā£ Combining factors worked better ā but still explained only ~20%
When researchers combined:
Hamstring muscle structure
Hamstring strength
Weekly running distance
Sudden changes in running load
They explained about 20% of hamstring injuries.
That means:ā 80% of why someone got injured wasnāt explained by these measures
Even in elite sport with world-class monitoring.
š§ What Does That Tell Us?
Hamstring injuries are not caused by one thing.
They are:
Multifactorial
Individual
Influenced by strength, structure, fatigue, mechanics, coordination, recovery, and load management
This explains why:
Some people get injured with āperfectā strength scores
Others tolerate high loads without issues
Injury prediction tools are limited
š¦“ Why Sudden Load Changes Matter
One of the strongest patterns in the study was sudden increases in weekly running distance.
Not just running more ā but running more than your body is prepared for.
This applies just as much to:
Runners increasing distance
People returning to sport after injury
Busy weeks where training, work, and stress all spike
š Your tissues need time to adapt.
šļøāāļø Does Strength Training Still Help?
Yes ā but with the right expectations.
This study showed:
Stronger hamstrings and longer muscle fibres may buffer the effects of high loads
Strength alone doesnāt āinjury-proofā you
But it improves resilience when demands increase
Think of strength as:š”ļø reducing vulnerability, not guaranteeing safety.
š©ŗ What This Means at Health Wise Chiropractic
At Health Wise Chiropractic, this research reinforces how we approach care:
āļø We donāt chase single āmagic bulletā risk factorsāļø We look at load, movement, strength, recovery, and history togetherāļø Rehab is individualised, not one-size-fits-allāļø Progression matters more than perfection
Hamstring pain isnāt just about the hamstring ā itās about how the whole system is coping with demand.
š§© Practical Takeaways for You
If youāre active, training, or returning from injury:
ā Build strength progressively (especially eccentric strength)
ā Avoid sudden spikes in activity
ā Respect recovery and fatigue
ā Address movement mechanics, not just muscles
ā Donāt rely on one test or metric to judge readiness
And if pain keeps returning, itās often a load-management and movement problem, not just āweak musclesā.
š¬ The Bottom Line
Hamstring injuries arenāt predictable ā but they are manageable.
This study shows:
Strength, muscle structure, and training load all matter
No single factor explains most injuries
Human movement is complex and individual
Smart rehab and progressive loading beat shortcuts every time
At Health Wise Chiropractic, our goal isnāt just to get you back āš itās to help your body adapt better next time
For more information about how we can help YOU with your sports performance and/or injury. Please call Health Wise Chiropractic 03 9467 7889Ā or book onlineĀ to see one of our Chiropractors in Sunbury or Melton/Strathtulloh Today!
We are also really proud to offer our patients an APP for their Mobile- iPad. With access to your rehab exercises and our health tip blogs with over 600 articles.
Chiropractic has moved online. We offer our online program -STAND CORRECTED- To help you through the day.
We have over 30 programs on different health conditions
Each program contains
- Information about the conditions
- things to do and things to avoid
- nutrition advice
- all the stretches that are needed to help
Breed R, Opar DA, Johnston RD, Hickey JT, Williams MD, Maniar N, Timmins RG. The Relationship Between Running Load, Strength, Muscle Architecture and Hamstring Strain Injury Across Two Seasons of Elite Male Australian Football: A Prospective Cohort Study. Sports Med Open. 2025 Nov 24;11(1):146. doi: 10.1186/s40798-025-00944-4. PMID: 41284168; PMCID: PMC12644382.
Comments