A surprising number of problems arise from strained hamstrings, and given the frequency of knee injuries among athletes and dancers, it is obvious that the methods used to keep them free could be better. This article presents a more effective way to free your hamstrings, improve your performance, and avoid injury.

A look at your hamstrings

The hamstrings are the muscles that run from behind and below the knees to the back of the thighs to the “seat bones.” Soft tissue injuries, knee pain, torn menisci (the cartilage pads of the knees that protect bones), chondromalacia patelli (painful wear of cartilage behind the kneecaps), and poor posture often come from tight hamstrings. Tight hamstrings can prevent you from reaching full leg extension or fully bending over. If you can’t touch your toes, or if you’re more comfortable hunched over than sitting up straight, your hamstrings are likely tight.

There are actually three hamstring muscles on the back of each thigh, two on the inside and one on the outside. They do various things. In addition to bending the knees, they help control alternate forward and reverse gait movements and stability against twisting forces on the knee when turning corners or skating. They also attach the menisci of the knees via fibers (from the biceps femoris) that pass to the knee joint.

Tight hamstrings contribute to the backward swing by pulling the knees behind the vertical center line of the body (i.e., locking the knees). The whole body sways forward, accentuating the curves of the spine. If the outer hamstrings are tighter than the inner ones, the lower leg rotates outward. This twisting in the knee joint contributes to knee pain, knee injuries, and awkward movement. Finally, when standing, bent knees activate tension in the muscles in the front of the thigh, the quadriceps muscles, to prevent the knees from bending. If you keep your knees bent all the time, the kneecap, which is embedded in the tendon of the quadriceps muscles, continuously grinds against the front surface of the knee joint and can become irritated.

As you can see, hamstring strain has far-reaching effects on movement, balance, and joint health.

Why Stretching Doesn’t Protect 100% Against Hamstring Strains and Soft Tissue Injuries

Knowing all this, athletes and dancers try to stretch their hamstrings. “Attempt” is the right word because stretching produces only limited and temporary effects, which is one reason so many athletes (and dancers) suffer hamstring strains and knee injuries.

As anyone who has had someone stretch their hamstrings knows, forced stretching is often a painful ordeal as well. Additionally, stretching your hamstrings disrupts your natural coordination with the quadriceps muscles, so your legs feel shaky after stretching your hamstrings.

Fortunately, there is a more effective way to control hamstring tension than by stretching. To understand how it works, it must first be recognized that the hamstrings that need to be stretched generally hold tension, that is, they actively contract. In that case, the person keeps them tense out of habit, unconsciously. Interestingly, if you try to relax them, you are likely to find that you cannot; then it can be assumed that the muscles are completely relaxed and need to be stretched. You may not realize that these muscles contract “automatically” due to postural habits stored in your central nervous system. Any attempt to stretch them simply reactivates the urge to re-contract them to restore a sense of what is “familiar.” This is why the hamstrings (and other muscles) tighten again so soon after stretching or massage. The best results are obtained by changing the person’s “set point” – their sense of what is “relaxed.”

What works best

Changing the set point requires more than stretching or massage; It requires a learning process that affects the brain, which controls the muscular system. In some circles, this learning process is called “somatic education.” Somatic education systematically uses special coordination patterns to improve consciousness and control tension in the muscular system. Important results come relatively quickly, and when they do, the benefits are second nature and require no special attention in daily life.

The following coordination pattern, developed by Thomas Hanna, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of somatic education, will show you. You may want to save this page so that you can test it yourself. Have someone read the instructions to you and follow them.

To learn the coordination pattern:

Get the illustrated version: click here

  1. Sit on the floor with one leg bent and dropped to the side. Its sole rests against the inside of the other leg, which is straight.
  2. Raise your straight leg up enough to allow you to grasp the foot with both hands; the tips of your fingers are on your sole. Hold it firmly and you’re good to go.
  3. Holding your foot firmly, push gently with your leg, so that your arm and shoulder are stretched out a lot. Drop your head forward. Work gently to the edge of your flexibility.
  4. Now gradually relax your thrust, allow the knee to bend, and remove the slack by lifting your leg with your hands. It is a kind of “isometric movement” exercise.
  5. Now, with your leg, push again, maintaining a little traction with your hands. Come and go within your comfort zone.

You will notice that with each repetition, you advance a little more. You are gaining sensation and control of the muscle tension in your hamstrings. The thing to remember is to move slowly enough and with enough force to clearly feel the action of the muscle.

After about ten repetitions in slow motion, get up and feel the difference between your two legs. Walk. You will notice that you feel more relaxed and confident.

Now do the other leg.

You can perform this coordination pattern in numerous positions:

  • Session
  • On your back
  • From your side
  • On your other side

Each position contributes to greater awareness and control.

Regardless of how long you’ve had your hamstrings tight or how tight they are, you will feel some improvement each time, until it naturally looses.

Releasing the hamstrings in this way can prevent soft tissue injuries and preserve joint integrity. Your hamstrings will be stronger because, by being relaxed, they won’t be partially fatigued all the time. You will be able to run or walk faster and your knees will be more stable. Brokers may find this benefit of particular interest.

How to get more

What you are doing is a special type of movement maneuver that is taught in a training method called Hanna Somatic Education® (the term in Google). This type of functional “do-it-yourself” exercise is one part of the method. Other more powerful techniques reduce chronic pain and loss of flexibility caused by aging, injury (including overuse injuries and surgery), and stress.

You will find illustrated instructions for some of the somatic exercises that Dr. Hanna devised in his DIY book, Somatics: Reawakening the Mind’s Control of Movement, Flexibility, and Health (published by Perseus Books, sold on Amazon.com).

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