THE FORMER KILKENNY HURLER’S INVENTION TO FIGHT SCOURGE OF HAMSTRING INJURIES
Noel Doherty’s ‘Hamstring Solo’ machine now being used by some of the world’s top sports teams, including Liverpool
THOSE who have had the misfortune of tearing their hamstring will never forget the agony. The sensation is often likened to a gunshot hitting the back of the leg. It has been a common theme since the GAA action resumed, with Kilkenny star Colin Fennelly, Tyrone’s Frank Burns and Mayo’s Donal Vaughan just a few in a lengthy list of hamstring casualties.
It’s a feeling that former Kilkenny hurler Noel Doherty knows all too well having missed out on the chance for a third All-Ireland intermediate medal with the Cats in 2012 due to persistent hamstring complaints.
Doherty needed someone to assist him when doing a specific hamstring strengthening programme to make his muscles more robust and resilient – but he found that assistance was never available when needed, and he wasn’t alone in that regard.
With a background in engineering and design, a lightbulb moment led to the Galmoy clubman developing the Hamstring Solo to eliminate the need for others when practising the Nordic Falls exercise and building resistance in the problem muscles.
Prevention
Given that the hamstring is the most commonly injured muscle group in team sport, prevention is better than cure, with many athletes suffering injuries due to quadriceps dominance with weaknesses at the back of the legs.
Manufacture of the Hamstring Solo Elite machine – made through consultation with eight other Irish businesses – has subsequently sent Doherty’s business into orbit. A who’s who of world sport are using his revolutionary equipment to avoid hamstring injury and maximise fitness.
“There’s a number of risk factors that increase hamstring vulnerability,” Doherty outlines. “A lack of muscle strength or a significant strength imbalance between left and right, residue fatigue and a lack of fatigue resilience in the muscles.
“None of these were easily tracked or monitored before but we’ve integrated sensors to help measure it. A lot of the big clubs are using it for testing and training. It’s been shown to be the most accurate way to objectively monitor hamstring vulnerability.
“It’s taking out personal opinions and it’s giving fact-based evidence on the muscle strength, on the deficit, on the fatigue. That’s exactly what they’re looking for. It’s about improving performance and keeping players on the field and off the physio table.
“Injury is time lost from sport and time lost from sport is going to reduce your performance levels.
“Ultimately, you’re reducing your likelihood of success. That’s what it comes down to.”
Doherty is just off a Zoom call with the Blue Bulls rugby union side in South Africa as they seek to secure a deal to use his product. His fingerprints are also all over some of the biggest sporting successes in recent memory.
The Dublin footballers will be going for a six-in-a-row later this year. It will be a ‘drive for five’ under the Hamstring Solo having started using their services in 2016 and tailoring training sessions with that data at their disposal.
The English Institute of Sport have also bought into Doherty’s expertise with their Olympic and Paralympic athletes availing of the equipment. English and Scottish rugby, and reigning Premier League and Champions League winners Liverpool are also on board.
Mo Salah has been an advocate of its effectiveness and given that the reoccurrence rate in hamstring injuries is over 60 per cent, it’s a no-brainer for sports teams of all varieties to do whatever is needed to keep players in action.
While they also work closely with Tipperary’s hurlers and the Kerry footballers, among many others, Doherty admits that some GAA teams have been much slower to embrace technology and modern approaches. They are being left behind somewhat as a result.
“There’s lots of people in the GAA that have the best intentions at heart. They’re Googling exercises and watching videos and seeing what other counties are doing, but sports scientists and the best backroom teams know the protocols that they should be doing,” he said.
“They know when to push players back and when players need a little more time to recover. They know when players are 40-minute men and that they’re not resilient enough for a full game.
Embrace
“You’re seeing a massive change and it’s getting very scientific. Players are getting stronger and faster, but they’ll keep breaking down unless you embrace the technology and you look at a holistic approach to injuries or hamstring management.”
Tipperary physio Paddy O’Brien is a big exponent of the Hamstring Solo Elite as “it eliminates ambiguity” around injuries and gives medical staff the informed data to make decisions that do right by the player.
“If you’re not feeling great, you go on the machine and I’ll get a force output. If you have over a 15 per cent deficit, I’m going to say that you’re not sprinting tonight.
“You can train but we’re modifying your training session,” O’Brien says.
“This goes on every week but it’s fresh data that you can’t argue with. The facts don’t lie and it will tell you if you have a deficit. There’s none of this ‘stretch it out and you’ll be fine’. It eliminates all that ambiguity.
“The argument that players make about wanting to train is over. They walk away because they can see the data. That’s what players want rather than your opinion against someone else’s opinion. Then you have a guy in a club and he says he’ll train. Invariably, he’s going to pull his hamstring.”
Doherty has “a few more big names pending” as his business looks to join the likes of STATSports and Kitman Labs as Irish-based companies that are world leaders in their field.
Covid-19 also gave him the chance to plan for the next chapter with the patent recently registered for a 360° data bar which “will give objective feedback from ankle mobility, hip and groin adduction/abduction and hip flexion”, among other things.
“Three of the top teams in the world have already put in orders” for a product that is not yet on sale, he adds. Being associated with the cream of world sport with his “must-have exercise tool” is something Doherty will never tire of.