An injured hamstring is more vulnerable to other stress injuries, so it is very important to wrap it up properly before putting it under stress, such as during jogging or a long hike. Follow the steps below to properly wrap up your strained hamstring before putting it under any kind of physical stress.

Get off your feet

The first thing that you need to do as soon as you feel your hamstring is pulled is to get off your feet and lie down as soon as possible. Resting the strained muscle is the best way to start a recovery program.

Ice the area

Then you should use an ice pack on the injured area, this will help relieve pain and reduce the swelling, if any. If you don’t have an ice pack ready to use, simply fill a thick plastic bag with crushed ice and apply it to the affected area. Do not apply an ice pack directly to bare skin, and instead place a towel between the ice pack and your leg.

Elevate your leg

Elevating the injured leg will also help reduce any swelling that you may get in the hamstring. It is important to treat the swelling and bruising before taping the hamstring. Taping a swollen hamstring, without treating it first, will slow down the recovery process.

Apply athletic pre-wrap to your hamstring

Before taping your hamstring, drape your thigh with athletic pre-wrap. Start wrapping 2 to 3 inches above the knee and head up to the groin, covering a few inches of that as well. Applying athletic pre-wrap will not only make it easy to stick athletic tape, but will also make it easier to remove the tape once the exercise is over. It will also help prevent any kind of itching or skin irritation.

Wrap the athletic tape

Once you have properly covered the hamstring with athletic pre-wrap, take the athletic tape and start taping your hamstring over top of the pre-wrap. Follow a similar pattern to tape the hamstring, as you did the pre-wrap, starting a couple of inches above and heading up to the groin. The only difference between the two wrappings will be that the tape should be draped a bit tighter as compared to pre-wrap. However, do not wrap the athletic tape so firmly that the area around it is bulging. This may choke off blood circulation in your leg, making the situation even worse.

Note: Tape the hamstring while you are standing up to make sure that it is not tight enough to choke off the circulation.