Hamstring injuries remain one of the most common and challenging injuries in sport, particularly because of their high recurrence risk and the demands placed on the hamstrings during sprinting, acceleration, deceleration, and rapid lengthening actions. A successful rehabilitation process should therefore not rely on a generic timeline alone, but should be individualized according to injury severity, tissue location, symptoms, strength deficits, running capacity, sport-specific demands, and psychological readiness to return to performance.
This free hamstring injury rehabilitation protocol was created to provide practitioners, coaches, and athletes with a practical, evidence-informed framework that supports progression from early protection and tissue healing through strength development, running exposure, plyometrics, agility, and return-to-sport decision-making. The goal is not to replace clinical reasoning, but to offer a structured guide that can be adapted to the needs of each individual athlete.
This resource combines and builds upon two valuable open-access documents: the Massachusetts General Brigham Sports Medicine “Rehabilitation Protocol for Hamstring Injury Non-op”, which emphasizes time- and criteria-based progression tailored to injury severity and clinical presentation, and “Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Athletic Hamstring Injury” by Adriana Geraci, Delaney Mahon, Eric Hu, Jesus E. Cervantes, and Shane J. Nho, which highlights evidence-based rehabilitation, eccentric strengthening, return-to-running principles, and prevention strategies.
I gratefully acknowledge the authors and institutions behind these resources for their contribution to improving hamstring injury management and return-to-sport practice. This merged protocol is shared free of charge through Complete Performance Education to support better, more individualized rehabilitation decisions in sport and clinical practice.