SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2017
Criteria for Progressing Rehabilitation and Determining Return-to-Play Clearance Following Hamstring Strain Injury: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 89 citations in OpenAlex.
- Establishing weighted criteria for return to play after hamstring injury: a systematic review and methodological quality analysis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Return-to-Play Criteria Following Lower Limb Muscle Injuries in Soccer: A Systematic Review with Evidence Synthesis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Conservative Interventions After Acute Hamstrings Injuries in Athletes: A Living Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- Criteria-Based Return to Sport Decision-Making Following Lateral Ankle Sprain Injury: a Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Pooled it
- Using the Relative Pitch Size, Internal Floaters, and External Floaters During Different Small-Sided Games in Professional Soccer in the Return-to-Play Process.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Hamstring Injuries in Collegiate Softball Players and Comparison to Collegiate Baseball Players.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2026Article
- Time to return to sports in football players recovering from lower limb soft tissue injuries: a systematic review with meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- Hamstring muscle injury rehabilitation in sports: a scoping review.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
- Persistent neuromuscular deficits in the posterior kinetic chain following hamstring strain injury: EMG insights from nordic hamstring curl, kettlebell swing, and supine sliding leg curl.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Platelet-Poor Plasma for Muscle Injuries: A Review of Mechanisms and Clinical Perspectives.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2025Review
- Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Athletic Hamstring Injury.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Hamstring T-Junction Surgical Repair: An Elite Footballer's Return to Play Journey Through a New Football-Centered Complex Approach.International journal of sports physical therapy · 2025Article
- Traumatic muscle injury.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2023Review
- The effects of hip- vs. knee-dominant hamstring exercise on biceps femoris morphology, strength, and sprint performance: a randomized intervention trial protocol.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Is it Time to Consider Quaternary Injury Prevention in Sports?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
- Concussion increases within-player injury risk in male professional rugby union.British journal of sports medicine · 2022Article
- Review
- A Framework for Clinicians to Improve the Decision-Making Process in Return to Sport.Sports medicine - open · 2022Review
- Hamstring Strain Injury Rehabilitation.Journal of athletic training · 2022Review
- The Assessment, Management and Prevention of Calf Muscle Strain Injuries: A Qualitative Study of the Practices and Perspectives of 20 Expert Sports Clinicians.Sports medicine - open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRehabilitation progression and return-to-play (RTP) decision making following hamstring strain injury (HSI) can be challenging for clinicians, owing to the competing demands of reducing both convalescence and the risk of re-injury. Despite an increased focus on the RTP process following HSI, little attention has been paid to rehabilitation progression and RTP criteria, and subsequent time taken to RTP and re-injury rates.
objectiveThe aim of this systematic review is to identify rehabilitation progression and RTP criteria implemented following HSI and examine the subsequent time taken to RTP and rates of re-injury.
methodsA systematic literature review of databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and EMBASE was conducted to identify studies of participants with acute HSI reporting time taken to RTP and rates of re-injury after a minimum 6-month follow-up. General guidelines and specific criteria for rehabilitation progression were identified for each study. In addition, RTP criteria were identified and categorised as performance tests, clinical assessments, isokinetic dynamometry or the Askling H-test.
resultsNine studies were included with a total of 601 acute HSI confirmed by clinical examination or magnetic resonance imaging within 10 days of initial injury. A feature across all nine studies was that the injured individual's perception of pain was used to guide rehabilitation progression, whilst clinical assessments and performance tests were the most frequently implemented RTP criteria. Mean RTP times were lowest in studies implementing isokinetic dynamometry as part of RTP decision making (12-25 days), whilst those implementing the Askling H-test had the lowest rates of re-injury (1.3-3.6%).
conclusionsThis systematic review highlights the strong emphasis placed on the alleviation of pain to allow HSI rehabilitation progression, and the reliance on subjective clinical assessments and performance tests as RTP criteria. These results suggest a need for more objective and clinically practical criteria, allowing a more evidence-based approach to rehabilitation progression, and potentially reducing the ambiguity involved in the RTP decision-making process.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.