• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
SimpliFaster

SimpliFaster

cart

Top Header Element

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Login
  • cartCart
  • (925) 461-5990
  • Shop
  • Request a Quote
  • Blog
  • Buyer’s Guide
  • Freelap Friday Five
  • Podcast
  • Job Board
    • Candidate
    • Employer
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Asking (and Answering) the Right Questions About Hamstring Injuries with Boo Schexnayder

Blog, Freelap Friday Five| ByBoo Schexnayder, ByRob Assise

ShareTweetLinkedInEmail

A runner with muscular legs is sprinting on a bright blue track, wearing athletic shoes with spikes visible. The perspective is from the track level, focusing on the runners legs and feet, with a shadow trailing behind.

Irving “Boo” Schexnayder possesses 44 years of coaching and consulting experience and currently heads Schexnayder Athletic Consulting. He consults in a variety of sports with many professional teams, NCAA programs, and international sports organizations in areas including speed, power, and strength development, biomechanics, restoration enhancement, and rehabilitation.

Schexnayder also frequently lectures and instructs classes in these areas. He is most noted for his career as a track and field coach, during which he produced 26 NCAA champions, 18 Olympians, 8 world championship/Olympic medalists, and was a part of 13 NCAA championship teams. An educator by profession and mentor to hundreds of coaches, he also directs the Track and Field Academy, the educational branch of the USTFCCCA.

Rob Assise: What are the primary causes of hamstring injuries?

Boo Schexnayder: Nearly all hamstring injuries fall into two categories:

  1. External biomechanical issues.
  2. Internal biomechanical issues.

External biomechanics refer to movement patterns, errors, and technical issues in acceleration, maximal velocity, deceleration, and redirection mechanics. In short, technique-based problems. Internal biomechanical issues result when forces are not transmitted along the kinetic chains as nature intended, and breakdowns occur as the hamstrings are subjected to abnormally applied forces. In short, most of these are mobility restrictions in the hips, knee, or ankle.

A sequence of a person running on a track, captured in multiple overlapping frames. They are wearing a gray and red outfit, with white shoes. The background shows an outdoor setting with equipment and a few people standing around.
Image 1. Pelvic alignment problems (and hamstring injuries) result when the torso angle in acceleration rises at a faster rate than the shin angle at touchdown. Notice here the torso angle never exceeds the shin angle in any frame.

Rob Assise: What are the questions that need to be answered when dealing with a hamstring injury?

Boo Schexnayder: Three key questions come to mind. First of all, “is this an acute issue or a chronic issue?” In my opinion, rehabilitation procedures differ greatly depending upon the answer to this question.

Secondly, “what will we do about it?” This refers to questions surrounding the planning of the rehabilitation and return to play programs.

Finally—and possibly the most overlooked question—is “why did it happen?” Most hamstring injuries, particularly the ones related to internal biomechanics, have causes which are distant from and not obviously connected to the injury itself. It’s like a biomechanical puzzle. They must be identified and addressed. Many times, a hamstring injury reoccurs and we assume the rehab was done wrong or the athlete came back too quickly, and neither is the case. The injury reoccurred because the causal factors are still lurking and we didn’t address them.

Most hamstring injuries, particularly the ones related to internal biomechanics, have causes which are distant from and not obviously connected to the injury itself, says @BooSchex. Share on X

Rob Assise: What are the biggest misconceptions you see in hamstring injury prevention?

Boo Schexnayder: The biggest misconception is that hamstring injuries are related to weakness or strength deficits. That’s almost never the case. We make this incorrect assumption, and then we end up nuking an athlete with nonspecific hamstring strengthening work, fatigue it more, and create additional risk.

If a guy runs 9.9 in the 100m semifinals and then pulls a hamstring in the finals, how did he run 9.9 with a weak hamstring? The logic fails.

Rob Assise: What are common issues you see in training programs regarding hamstring injury prevention?

Boo Schexnayder: There are many, but the biggest is that coaches and rehabilitators fail to realize that the type of loading needed to strengthen the hamstrings in a specific way can’t be accomplished in a weight room.

The hamstrings are built to accept fast eccentric loading (sprinting), so Nordics and RDL’s make things worse by fatiguing the area with no hope for progress. The answer to hamstring health is simple: teach mechanics, value mobility (over max strength), and sprint year-round.

The hamstrings are built to accept fast eccentric loading (sprinting), so Nordics and RDL’s make things worse by fatiguing the area with no hope for progress, says @BooSchex. Share on X

Rob Assise: Can you outline protocols for treating an acute hamstring injury versus a chronic hamstring injury?

Boo Schexnayder: They are very different. Acute hamstring pulls require gentle, functional exercise immediately to supply governance to the healing process. Without this governance, scar tissue formation results, while functional exercise governs the process properly and produces functional muscle tissue. Then, over time, exercise intensity increases.

Sprint haphazardly and you make things worse, but if you don’t sprint at all, you have no opportunity to remodel the tissue, says @BooSchex . Share on X

On the other hand, chronic issues are usually related to scar tissue, dysfunctional stretch receptors, or adhesion. The advantage we have in these situations is that we can be sure (due to elapsed time) that there aren’t any acute issues. These require intensity to get things working and moving. Since in acceleration each step is faster than the next, I have the athletes sprint, beginning with very short distances (10m), and progressively increase the sprint distances over time. Gradually increasing the distances gradually increases terminal velocities and thus, the tissue load. At some critical point, you’ll stimulate change and/or create microtears so that the scar tissue can remodel itself into functional tissue. Sprint haphazardly and you make things worse, but if you don’t sprint at all, you have no opportunity to remodel the tissue.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF


ShareTweetLinkedInEmail
LoginComment
src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw=="

Boo Schexnayder

Irving “Boo” Schexnayder possesses 44 years of coaching and consulting experience and currently heads Schexnayder Athletic Consulting. He consults in a variety of sports with many professional teams, NCAA programs, and international sports organizations in areas including speed, power, and strength development, biomechanics, restoration enhancement, and rehabilitation.

Schexnayder also frequently lectures and instructs classes in these areas. He is most noted for his career as a track and field coach, during which he produced 26 NCAA champions, 18 Olympians, 8 world championship/Olympic medalists, and was a part of 13 NCAA championship teams. An educator by profession and mentor to hundreds of coaches, he also directs the Track and Field Academy, the educational branch of the USTFCCCA.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Casey Morrow

    February 6, 2025 at 9:05 am

    What hamstring stretches would you suggest? And would you do any lifting for hamstrings?

    Reply
  2. Shahnawaz Gazi

    February 19, 2025 at 7:21 pm

    Great explanation!
    What I believe is that when we know the exact mechanism of injury, tissues need to be loaded in same fashion , as rightly said mostly hamstring injuries occur due to eccentric loading while the foot is about to touch ground I.e. pre-stance or late-swing phase!
    What I believe is train the hamstrings eccentrically in open kinematic chain.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FEATURED

  • Using Speed and Power Data to Bucket and Train Faster Athletes
  • Plyometric Training Systems: Developmental vs. Progressive
  • 9 (Fun!) Games to Develop Movement Skills and Athleticism

Latest Posts

  • Rapid Fire—Episode #15 Featuring Kyle Brown: What is Universal Speed Rating (USR)?
  • Why We Don’t Perform Hang Cleans
  • 1080 Sprint: Four Essential Tips You Won’t Find in the Manual

Topics

  • Adult training
  • App features
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Athlete
  • Athlete performance
  • Baseball
  • Buyer's Guide
  • Career
  • Certifications
  • Changing with the Game
  • Coach
  • Coaching
  • Coaching workflows
  • Coching
  • College athlete
  • Course Reviews
  • Dasher
  • Data management
  • EMG
  • Force plates
  • Future innovations
  • Game On Series
  • Getting Started
  • Injury prevention
  • Misconceptions Series
  • Motion tracking
  • Out of My Lane Series
  • Performance technology
  • Physical education
  • Plyometric training
  • Pneumatic resistance
  • Power
  • Power development
  • Practice
  • Rapid Fire
  • Reflectorless timing system
  • Running
  • Speed
  • Sports
  • Sports technology
  • Sprinters
  • Strength and conditioning
  • Strength training
  • Summer School with Dan Mullins
  • The Croc Show
  • Track and field
  • Training
  • Training efficiency
  • Wave loading
  • What I've Added/What I've Dropped Series
  • Youth athletics
  • Youth coaching

Categories

  • Blog
  • Buyer's Guide
  • Freelap Friday Five
  • Podcasts

COMPANY

  • Contact Us
  • Write for SimpliFaster
  • Affiliate Program
  • Terms of Use
  • SimpliFaster Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
  • Return and Refund Policy
  • Disclaimer

Coaches Resources

  • Shop Online
  • SimpliFaster Blog
  • Buyer’s Guide
  • Freelap Friday Five
  • Coaches Job Listing

CONTACT INFORMATION

13100 Tech City Circle Suite 200

Alachua, FL 32615

(925) 461-5990 (office)

(925) 461-5991 (fax)

(800) 634-5990 (toll free in US)

Logo of BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative. The word Buy is yellow and shaped like a shopping cart, while Board and Purchasing Cooperative are in blue text.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

SIGNUP FOR NEWSLETTER

Loading

Copyright © 2025 SimpliFaster. All Rights Reserved.