I Pulled A Hamstring While Cartwheeling

Que signifie «pull a muscle» en anglais ?

When you pull a muscle, you hurt it by stretching it too far, too fast. In the clip, the speaker pulls a hamstring — the muscle at the back of the leg — after a bad cartwheel. «Pull» here does not mean «to drag.» It means «to injure.» A pulled muscle makes every movement painful, and it needs rest and time before it is strong again.

You can pull many muscles: a hamstring (back of the leg), a calf (lower leg), or your back. Doctors call this injury a «strain.» The hamstring muscles let you bend your leg, so runners and dancers use them constantly — this is why pulled hamstrings are so common in sport. In the clip: «I landed a very bad cartwheel, and then I pulled the hamstring, which means I injured the hamstring... every step I took was painful.»