Avoiding a hamstring injury
June 23, 2009 by Jean-Luc Boissonneault
The hips are like a wheel, if any of the spokes are bent it affects the whole function of the wheel. When it comes to the hip and hamstring relation a similar situation arises. Tight hip flexors pull the pelvic in an anterior tilt to form an excessive arch in your lower back elongating your hamstrings to a stretched position leaving them vulnerable to injury.
Why do the hip flexors get tight? The hip flexors primarily the psoas, attaches from the lower spinal vertebrae’s to the femur (thigh bone) and if kept in a shortened state, it can cause problems later on. The hip flexors could get tight by many things you do in a day. Sitting down at your desk for a long period of time without stretching, the way you sleep (curled up in a ball) the way you have been use to standing, the over use of some exercises that actively work the hip flexor (sit ups) while not performing exercises of the opposite muscle group (back extensions).
So if your hip flexors are tight, your pelvic has a anterior tilt and your hamstring muscles are in a stretched position you are leaving yourself very vulnerable to injury.(If the injury has already developed you will usually feel the pain very high up on the hamstring attachment or at the bottom of the hamstring behind the knee.)
To avoid this from happening, you must stretch the hip flexors and strengthen the hamstrings. I see a lot of runners stretch the hamstrings that are already over stretched. Not good.
Someone with an excessive anterior pelvic tilt will need to stretch their hip flexors and strengthen their hamstrings. They usually will have very strong hip flexors but also very weak and stretched upper abdominals and must focus on contracting there abdominals when stretching their quads/hips to avoid the “law of least resistance” where the weaker muscle will get more of a stretch then the one that is tight. Here is a good stretch that forces you in the right position. But again, keep your abs tight.
When it comes to exercises for strengthening the hamstrings there’s a whole bunch of good functional ones like; leg curls, glute ham raises, cable step ups, box jumps and more. Start stretching that hip flexor and strengthening those hamstrings today.
Jean-Luc is the co-owner of Free Form Fitness personal training centre in Kanata, ON, Canada. He is the author of the book” Abs on the Go” , a speaker and a certified personal trainer (PICPP, IFBB) with 8 years of experience having trained athletes in many different sports. He has helped create many champions from the regional level to the national level. He has also himself placed 1st in Canada as a natural bodybuilder and has placed 7th in the world. He has a passion for helping people succeed and teaches his training team to do the same.
