Redskins investigate rash of hamstring injuries

Redskins investigate rash of hamstring injuries

By Joseph White, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASHBURN, Va. - Veteran linebacker Marcus Washington said he’d rather have a broken arm than his hamstring injury.

Cornerback Fred Smoot’s hamstring feels fine one day and has him grimacing the next.

Young tackle Stephon Heyer hurt his hammy three months ago, and he’s just getting to the point where he’ll dare to practise without wrapping it.

“It’s an injury that plays with your head a little bit,” Heyer said Wednesday.

If that’s true, the Washington Redskins have been playing a lot of head games lately. At least 17 players, including some who are no longer with the team, have had hamstring issues since the start of training camp. They’ve ranged from major pulls to minor tweaks. The problem became so chronic that coach Joe Gibbs last week ordered an inquest, leading to several in-house initiatives aimed at getting the set of muscles behind the thigh bone to stop aching so much.

“We’re frustrated by it,” Gibbs said. “So we’ve got about six different initiatives, and hopefully somewhere in there we’re going to find the answer. Because it really hurts you, it hurts your football team.”

The Redskins have lost six man-games due to hamstring injuries, but that doesn’t begin to tell the story. A hamstring injury lingers and lingers, hampering especially receivers and defensive backs - players whose games rely on speed - long after they’ve been cleared to play.

“It’s one of those recurring things,” said Smoot, who stayed in the game after reaggravating his hamstring in the fourth quarter of last week’s game victory over the New York Jets. “It’s very frustrating. I’ve been dealing with it now for a month and a half.”

Smoot has to play at less than 100 per cent because the Redskins are already short on cornerbacks, having lost Carlos Rogers for the season with a knee injury. Antwaan Randle El and James Thrash might have to deal with nagging hamstrings for the rest of the year, hindering an offence that still doesn’t have a touchdown pass to a wide receiver.

Washington was just kidding when he said he’d rather have a broken arm, but he definitely is having a harder time dealing with his pulled hamstring than with the dislocated elbow he had during training camp. The elbow injury comes with a straightforward recovery timeline; the hamstring doesn’t.

“You can’t shake it,” said Washington, who has missed three of the last four games and missed practice Wednesday. “It’s tough because it’ll feel good for a little while, and then you’ll go out and go hard like you’re healthy - and then it’ll get real sore.”

Last week’s hamstring summit led to changes in the weight room and more stretching on the field before and after practice. An outsider who has researched hamstring injuries was brought in to offer advice. Randle El said he and other players are now doing “corrective stretching,” making sure that the hips are properly aligned. In addition, skill players are doing their pre-practice stretching indoors while their bodies are still warm before heading outside into the autumn chill.

“We are changing a bunch of stuff to try to find a solution,” Gibbs said.

And hoping something sticks. Unfortunately for Gibbs and his staff, there is no panacea for hamstring injuries.

Players hurt them in different ways. Washington had someone fall on his back during a game, while Randle El pulled up while running untouched after a catch. Thrash and Randle El each hurt one of their outer hamstring muscles, while Smoot and Washington injured the slower-to-heal inside muscle.

“James Thrash pulled up in practice, and certainly nobody’s in better shape or works harder or stretches harder than James Thrash,” longtime trainer Bubba Tyer said. “It’s just various things that occur.”

The outside expert told the Redskins that workload is the problem, which might lead to changes in the off-season workout program. Tyer noted that hamstring and other soft-tissue injuries were much more prevalent among the Redskins decades ago, before Gibbs eliminated two-a-day practices on consecutive days during his first stint with the team in the 1980s.

But even the expert didn’t offer a cure-all.

“He doesn’t have the answers. There’s no one single answer,” Tyer said, “because you’ve got to take each injury individually and analyze why it happened.”

All agree on one thing: Only time and rest can truly heal a hamstring injury, and those two commodities are hard to come by during an NFL season. Tyer said many players try to return a week too soon - and often end up paying the price by hurting themselves again.

Heyer knows that feeling well.

“It’s not going to go away just by doing treatment,” Heyer said. “It’s got to go away on its own, by resting. But we don’t get much time to rest.”

If the Redskins were smart, they would bring Charlie in to address these issues. I figure most of these guys would be ready to go in no less than two weeks.

Absolute BS

All agree on one thing: Only time and rest can truly heal a hamstring injury

LOL, BS like these keep me optimistic about the future… MY future :smiley:

You’ve had an expert in and you’re still talking about time and rest as the answer? Who was the outside guy? (It obviously wasn’t me this time!!)
BTW, if you have a rash of injuries like this, there IS a common cause! You either haven’t found it- or are afraid to say.

they need a new strength coach because the HIT shit isnt working.

workload is the likely culpret, but wat sort of workload? Is it too much hamstring strengthening type work? Sadly it is often the attempted solution that is the problem. One of the injured guy was oner of the guys who did the most work to avoid it according to the trainer- I’d look there first and work my way down the list.

Tamfb, I don’t think they are HIT anymore, are they? Personally, any direct hamstring work like RDLS or leg curls are too much for me in-season. I find the reverse hyper and back extension to be better alternatives

This exact thing happened to the Bears 2 or 3 years ago. At the end of the year, they canned everyone involved in training (s & c, trainers) or so was reported by the chicago papers.

I agree. The tolerance for load around the hip is totally different to the capacity around the knee. Why does an exercise have to combiine the two? in fact, work around the knee can be very light, mostly to facilitate stretching. I had less ham injuries after taking this approach.

didnt i see someplace your known around the football circles as “the hamstring man” ? :eek:

Yup. I went to one of the teams and the security guy phoned up saying: “The hamstring guy’s here!”
Gee. I used to think of myself as a speed guy- but whatever!

[QUOTE]Originally Posted by sprinterouge
LOL, BS like these keep me optimistic about the future… MY future

You’ve had an expert in and you’re still talking about time and rest as the answer? Who was the outside guy? (It obviously wasn’t me this time!!)
BTW, if you have a rash of injuries like this, there IS a common cause! You either haven’t found it- or are afraid to say.[/QUOTE]
Hey, I am not working for the Redskins (I wish), what I meant was: if their answer (absolute rest for some time) to the problem is so “low level” I have a chance to be hired in the NFL in the future.

Didn’t understand if that was a generic “you” or was directed to me… I may have misunderstood.

Is it too much hamstring strengthening type work? Sadly it is often the attempted solution that is the problem.

Very much agreed; that’s what I call the “physiotherapist approach”.

Yup. I went to one of the teams and the security guy phoned up saying: “The hamstring guy’s here!”
Gee. I used to think of myself as a speed guy- but whatever!

LOL!

http://www.redskins.com/team/cprofile.jsp?id=49

http://www.redskins.com/team/cprofile.jsp?id=62

http://www.redskins.com/team/cprofile.jsp?id=61

Let’s be careful about assigning blame here. First, I’d want to know what’s going on in the therapy room and what impact they might have on the situation.

why not put blame here, do you know what these guys are doing?

No, that’s the point. i have been at a couple of teams that had ham issues that should have been a minor interruption but turned into long term problems due to therapy methods employed- especially an emphasis on a rehab/strengthening regime.

are you saying, these teams at times do both Re-hab/hammie strength work and at the same time keep doing Normal training - therefore compounding the stress of the hammies, never allowing the hammies to therefore recover.

where as they should be getting to the root cause of the hammie and limiting substantially training that involves forces on the hammie?

NO, thats point since we are not there and dont know everything that goes on we have to look at the strength program/warmup before practices. I am some what familar with what the head strength coach like to do esp if he does the samething he did with the chargers. I dont know about there practices schedule, therapy protocols etc.

Interesting reading. I learnt a few things in this thread.

And I will keep trying to read up on it, so I don’t appear too stoopid when I ask a question.

Hopefully I never have to worry about rehabing a hamstring.