Jeremy Lin left the Brooklyn Nets game against the Detroit Pistons with what’s being described as a left hamstring strain. A hamstring injury is one of the peskiest and most difficult sports injuries a player can sustain. A grade 1 hamstring strain requires two weeks rest from sporting activities, according to sports medicine experts, while a grade 2 hamstring strain is “at least 4-to-8 weeks.”
As Chris Erskine wrote in the LA Times last year, talking about point guard Chris Paul‘s hamstring problems: “an athlete would almost be better off breaking a bone than yanking a hamstring.” A Columbia University study showed that the re-injury risk on hamstring injuries can reach 31%. In the study, which focused on Major League Baseball, a reported 25% of those injuring hamstrings were out of action for “1 month or longer.” The biggest problem with hamstring injuries is they tend to turn chronic, especially if the athlete returns too early — a temptation Lin will need discipline to avoid. Lin played just 15 minutes before his injury, shooting 4-of-6 from the field.
