The Aspetar Hamstring Injury Rehabilitation Pathway

"The Aspetar Way"
 

Hamstring muscle injuries are among the most common non-contact injuries in field-based sports and place a considerable burden on athletes due to their high incidence and tendency to recur. Despite significant attention in the scientific literature over the past two decades, reinjury rates remain persistently high in elite sport.

The Aspetar Way provides a structured framework to guide the rehabilitation process from injury through to return to performance. It is designed to support—not replace—clinical reasoning and should be adapted to meet the needs of each individual athlete. While the pathway focuses specifically on the rehabilitation process, other domains such as psychology, imaging, and recovery strategies fall outside its scope, despite the important role they may play in an athlete’s assessment and recovery.

The rehabilitation journey is divided into six phases: five phases that guide the athlete from injury to unrestricted training, followed by an additional post-rehabilitation phase, Resilience. Each phase includes milestone-based exit criteria to support safe and appropriate progression throughout therehabilitation process.

The Components of Rehabilitation outline the physical qualities and rehabilitation interventions targeted concurrently throughout recovery. Theemphasis placed on each component evolves across the different phases of rehabilitation,