Hamstring tightness is on the list of the most frustrating conditions you can come across. One may describe it as a 5-letter curse word to be exact. You’re working hard, putting in max effort and slowly, yet surely that hammy starts to crunch up.. All you can think is “Why me and why now?” There are tactics to respond to these tight hamstring symptoms with and use to prevent hamstring trouble, but first let’s get a general understanding of the hamstrings.

SECTIONS:

What Are Hamstrings And How Do They Work
What Causes Hamstring Tightness
How To Fix Hamstring Tightness
How To Prevent Hamstring Injury

-Advertisement Continue Below-

What Are Hamstrings And How Do They Work

The hamstrings are a posterior collection of muscles between your glutes and knees. Consisting of the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus.. The hamstrings play a great role in moving your hips forward (hip extension), bending at the knee (knee flexion), tibial rotation, and pelvic stability.

This covers an array of moves: running, jumping, squatting, deadlifting, leg curling, leg pressing, and so on. Even pivoting or making a cut on the football field double taps the hamstrings. You may notice some of these exercises are quad dominant (squat for example), yet hamstrings still do their part, which at times is the problem.

-Advertisement Continue Below-

What Causes Hamstring Tightness

Muscular tightness is often the result of over-lengthening. Our muscles aren’t isolated, they’re part of a system. In this system hamstrings are more or less coupled with the quadriceps.

These powerhouses work together for pelvic stability. We aren’t stationary creatures, so easy this task is not. An even taller ask for runners and lifters because quadriceps are already a dominant muscle group. For this pairing to work harmoniously the quad to hammy strength ratio must remain intact. The quads can’t get too far ahead, or problems will occur.

“this strength ratio can become out of balance, especially for us runners. When this happens, it is typically the quadriceps that win the strength battle and begin to pull the pelvis into a slight anterior rotation or forward tilt. The hip flexors get in on this action, too, and assist the quadriceps.

As the pelvis rotates anteriorly, it raises or elevates the hamstring attachment site, which means the hamstrings get pulled up, and as the pelvis shifts, they become over-lengthened. In the massage world, this over-lengthening is sometimes referred to as “locked long.” The hamstrings hang onto their attachment site for dear life....

Then, to compound the problem further, when we run, we swing the leg forward, the hamstrings are even further lengthened, and the stress on the hamstrings, especially at the attachment site, is increased even more. This additional stress puts your hamstrings at a greater risk of injury. This can result in tendonitis and even muscle tearing. Pain is the first warning sign, and you are wise to pay attention to this signal.” [1]

This concept doesn’t stop with runners. As a former victim of tight and strained hamstrings I can say I’ve suffered during a run twice.. During a lift twice, as well. My latest, and hopefully last bout with a hamstring strain occurred doing Bulgarian squats. The issue was my forward leg was so far ahead that my hamstrings over-extended. Picture a couple of plates loaded on my back going up and down with my front leg expanded way north of where it should be; I learned a lesson that day.

Feels like a punishment for hard work, however it’s just a function of imbalance and in some cases improper use. Hamstring tightness and most related injuries generally result from:

Poor quadricep to hamstring strength ratio
Underactive glutes (hams try to compensate and instead of being a glute assistant they take an active role)
Lack of flexibility
Excessive anterior pelvic tilt (hips constantly pressed forward)
Inactivity (too much sitting)
Poor warm-ups

-Advertisement Continue Below-

Fitness Plans

How To Fix Hamstring Tightness

Strengthen your hamstrings, activate your glutes, rest ice compression and elevation (RICE), myofascial release/regular stretching (hamstrings, lower back, hips, glutes, calves, and quadriceps), solid dynamic warm ups, and cooling down after exercise.

Some exercises for hamstring strength:

Romanian deadlift
Hamstring curls
Hip bridges (good for hamstrings and glute activation)

Note: exercises for tight hamstrings should only be done when you can complete dynamic ranges of motion without hamstring pain.

-Advertisement Continue Below-

How To Prevent Hamstring Injury

Note: to keep hammy trouble off your desk do everything you’d do to get rid of an issue minus RICE.

Again, avoid sitting for too long. When sitting can’t be avoided use good posture. Flopping in a chair all day can lead to underactive glutes, but furthermore check for an anterior pelvic tilt in your daily posture.

“Anterior pelvic tilt, or apt, is a common postural position in which your lower back and hip flexors are extra short and your hamstrings are extra long. In other words you’re probably standing with your butt and stomach pushed out.” [2]

[5] A Good Corrective Exercise Is The Hollow Hold

More prevention: for every quadricep dominant exercise you do conduct an extra hamstring focused set. If you follow that formula, you should be able to keep the ham strength vs. Quad strength gap from widening too much.

Note: if you’re still working out with tight hamstrings warm-up, consider a compression sleeve, and cool down properly. Stay in tune with the muscle and stop at any sign of worsening the condition.

-Advertisement Continue Below-

So, It’s About That Time

The fitness game has a few hiccups, yet it’s all worth it in the end. Strengthen your hamstrings and stay active enough outside of the gym to prevent muscular imbalance. Loosen your tight hamstrings, put those muscles to use, and you’ll Be Great.

Sources:
[1] Runnersworld.Com/Health-Injuries/A20809265/10-Tips-To-Relieve-Hamstring-Tightness/
[2] Aaptiv.Com/Magazine/Hamstring-Tightness-Cures
[3] Yoganatomy.Com/Hamstrings-Group-Muscles-Yoga-Anatomy/
[4] healthguideline.net/2019/07/quadriceps-muscle-strain-and-treatment.html
[5] Medium.Com/@Ronaldleite/How-I-Fixed-My-Anterior-Pelvic-Tilt-Apt-A13d3080dc1b