Does early surgical repair improve postoperative outcomes and reduce complications compared to delayed repair in patients with complete proximal hamstring origin avulsions?
Early surgical repair is recommended for complete proximal hamstring origin avulsions to optimize strength and endurance and minimize complications.
It is important to distinguish proximal hamstring origin avulsions (for which we recommend early surgical repair) from the majority of hamstring muscle injuries (which respond well to nonoperative treatment). The present study suggests that, in cases of complete avulsion with hamstring retraction, a delay in surgical repair renders the repair more technically challenging, may increase the likelihood of sciatic nerve involvement, increases the need for postoperative bracing, and reduces postoperative outcome in terms of hamstring strength and endurance. Once the nature of the injury has been established, the surgical treatment of hamstring origin avulsions has predictable and satisfactory results.
Carmichael et al. (Thu,) studied this question.