Shaun Rodgers, Physiotherapist
Why do I keep straining my quadricep muscle?
A quad strain is an injury to the muscles in the front of the thigh, occurring typically during sprinting, decelerating, suddenly changing direction, or kicking.
Sometimes, athletes can have recurrent quad strains.
Despite your best efforts, completing a diligent rehabilitation program and working hard in the gym, you may find yourself in the position of being on the sidelines once again.
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Why does this happen?
Here we discuss some possible reasons and key elements to look at to make sure you effectively rehabilitate your quad and ensure long lasting success.
Firstly, let’s get an idea of what we’re dealing with.
Your quadriceps are made up of 4 muscles, namely:
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Rectus femoris
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Vastus lateralis
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Vastus medialis
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Vastus intermedius
The most commonly injured muscle is your rectus femoris.
This muscle helps us bend our hip and straighten our knee. It produces high forces when we run and kick.
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Why do I keep straining my quad? CAN Physiotherapy IN Melbourne Help?
Some key things to think about are:
Have I restored sufficient strength (and the different types of strength)?
Restoring quadriceps strength is a key component in quad rehab.
How much strength is enough? This depends on the sport. For kicking and running sports, generally the aim would be 2.5-3x body weight in force. We can measure this specifically with our VALD technology in clinic.
It is important to be strong enough but strength alone can be an over simplistic metric. With quad strains, particularly recurrent strains, it is important to make sure the quad has enough concentric and eccentric strength.
Concentric actions are when a muscle produces force and shortens (bending our elbow is a concentric action for our biceps). Eccentric actions is when a muscle lengthens under a load (straightening our elbow holding a weight is an eccentric action for our biceps).
We want to have enough concentric and eccentric strength and they are measured differently.
Similarly, we want to be strong through our whole range of motion.
If we are only strong with our knee straight, this does not protect us from load applied to the knee when we are in squatting / jumping positions and this can put extra strain on our quads.
Could I have a tendon injury in addition to a quad muscle injury?
With quadriceps injuries, commonly we have a strain to the muscle. However, we can also have injuries affecting the tendon / area where the muscle and tendon meet in the quad. These injuries can take longer to heal and have a higher risk of recurrence.
There are also variations in how they are rehabilitated. If you are suffering from recurrent quad strains, have one our physiotherapists assess you and find out if there is a tendon involved in the recurrent injury. This would change the rehabilitation process and may be the missing link for you returning to excelling at your sport.
QUAD STRAIN PREVENTION - Do I need to train my adductors/hamstrings to reduce quad injuries?
Our quads do not work in isolation. Muscles like our abdominal muscles, our groin muscles (adductors) and our hip flexors help our quads produce force and dissipate force.
Ensuring sufficient force output and function through these muscle groups is essential to successful return to play. It can be the case that you have smashed your rehabilitation and your quadriceps are functioning excellently, however, your groin muscles are falling behind and transferring more force to your quads, overloading them and causing recurrent injury.
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How do I stop straining my quad? Sports Physio in Melbourne tips
Get assessed by a sports physiotherapist experienced in quad strains. From there, they can check if you are have sufficient:
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Range of motion
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Concentric strength
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Eccentric strength
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Strength throughout your range of motion
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Endurance
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Enough contribution from other muscles
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Check if there is tendon involvement
Overall, get a thorough history and assessment and make a plan to help you return to excelling at your sport.
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How can we help you?
At Melbourne Sports Physiotherapy our goal is to get you moving pain free as soon as possible.
But, we also want you to actually move better and live a healthier, more active and fulfilling life!
If your sports, fitness training or work has been wearing your body down, book in with one of our expert massage therapists so we can help you reduce your pain or stiffness.
If you are showing some signs of this condition or simply want help prevent this from happening in the future then book in with one of our highly experienced Remedial Massage Therapists today!
You can make an appointment by calling or booking online.
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