Recurring Hamstring/Quad Injury

[JonoV]

About 18 months ago I suffered a fairly severe tear in my right Quad. At the time I sought advice from a physio and took about 3 months off from serious sports which I spent going to physio & stretching/rehabilitating the injury. At the start of the next season I began quite slowly (as my quad was still very tight) and made sure I warmed up/stretched properly however I still ended up with a minor tear, this time in my left hamstring.

Since then I have torn either a quad or hamstring 6 further times with varying levels of severity (in fact I have torn each quad/hamstring twice) and always gone to physio to have the usual massage/ultrasound/stretching etc. I have also made sure to do all the resistance strengthening exercises initially given to me after the first injury.

Is there some reason I keep injuring these muscles? As you can probably tell it is quite frustrating as it almost seems that as soon as I recover from one injury I suffer another one. Since the second latest time I have injured my thigh (this time left quad) I have also been doing strengthening exercises at the gym (including a fair bit of core work) however this has also not seemed to reduce the recurrence of the injury.

Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks in advance.

[Heidi]

Hi
Recurrent muscle strains like this are usually due to another problem and you are right to concentrate on working your core muscles. A weak core means that the lower back and pelvis in particular are not stable - this is where these muscles attach. If they do not have a stable base to attach to, then this increases the risk of injury.
I would advise you to continue with the core strengthening and maybe consider joining a pilate class as this will help with core the core and your flexibility.
I would imagine that following so many injuries your thigh muscles are probably very tight and again, this isn't helping.
What kind of stretching routine have you been doing?
Do you continue with massage once you return to sport?
Do you perform a dynamic warm-up before sport?
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/general/warm-up.php