“Going for a run?” “Warming up for a workout?” Perhaps an image that comes to mind is the iconic stretch pose of standing up with one straight leg popped up on a bench, wall, or rail with the torso bending forward toward the stretched out leg. You know that stretch! It’s interesting how this stretch has become the “go-to” pre-workout pose. Essentially this pose is a hamstring stretch that helps to lengthen the large and powerful muscles on the back of the legs.

What’s important about this stretch that it has become so iconic in mainstream exercise culture?

The hamstrings are a very important muscle group in the body that are often neglected. They are group of polyarticular muscles, meaning that they affect the movement of multiple joints. The hamstrings in particular directly affect both the function of the knee and hip joints. The two main muscular actions of the hamstrings are extending the leg in the hip joint and flexing the knee. In hip extension the leg moves further behind your pelvis such as when you are kicking your leg back. In knee flexion the heel comes closer to the back of your thigh.

Functionally in movements like walking, hiking, stair climbing, and jumping the hamstrings work with the glutes to create a pelvic thrust or hip extension. This helps to propel the body forward in movement. The hamstrings also work to break or slow down extension of the knee joint caused by the quadriceps. A soccer player who is able to perfectly control the force and angle of their kick is skillfully using the hamstrings in conjunction with the quads to accomplish this.

Another way the hamstrings help to control movement is by stabilizing the pelvis and knee when breaking a fall. Say you slip on a hiking trail and you try to plant a foot down to break a fall, the hamstrings are working to brace the pelvis and knee to slow down the force of the fall and help return the body to balance.

As an antagonist that works in opposition to the quadriceps on the front of the thigh, the hamstrings stabilize the knee joint and help control the angle of the knee during movement. The hamstrings are composed of four muscles. Three start at the sit bones of the pelvis. The semimembranosus and semitendonosus are two muscles of the hamstring complex that run down the femur(thigh bone) and insert on the inner portion of the tibia, the main bone of the shin.

The long head of the bicep femoris, runs down the back of the thigh and inserts on the outer side of the shin bone. The 4th muscle, the short head of the bicep femoris originates midway down the thigh bone and crosses over the outer portion of the knee joint, inserting on the fibula of the lower leg. These four muscles work in tandem to form the hamstring complex.

Hamstring Muscles

-Semimembranosus

-Semitendonosus

-Bicep femoris long head

-Bicep femoris short head

By passing over both sides of the knee joint, we can see how the hamstrings can effect movement and have a stabilizing action on the knee joint. Exercise, in particular resistance training is a great way to improve these functions of the hamstring. Strengthening the hamstrings during exercises like the dead lift, good mornings, single leg dead lift, squats, and lunges will help to improve the stability of the knee joint during movement.

High up near the hip joint, the aforementioned exercises help to coordinate the hamstrings and glutes to perform hip extension, such as when the hips thrust forward as the body is standing back up from a squat. The hamstrings also work to stabilize the pelvis when the foot is landing on the ground when walking, hiking, and jumping. Strengthening the hamstrings will help to improve most activities that involve the lower body.

Hamstring Strengthening Exercises

-Deadlift

-Good morning

-Squat

-Single Leg Deadlift

-Lunge

In addition to strengthening the hamstrings, it is also important to stretch them, making a full circle back to our “classic pre-workout stretch pose” mentioned at the start. One reason why this has become such a popular stretch is due to the affects it has on the hip, pelvis, back, and knee. For many of us who spend much of our working hours sitting at a computer it is common to have tight hamstrings.

In a seated position, our hamstrings are in a shortened position; our hamstrings become chronically tight from sitting in chairs all day. Tight hamstrings will prevent the leg from fully straightening when we are walking which can create a whole cocktail of gait issues above the pelvis and below the knees. As such, these muscles are key toward producing efficient movement and maintaining proper alignment and range of motion.

Keeping the hamstrings open and strong will ensure there is full range of movement at the knees. Above the knee, tight hamstrings can pull the back of the pelvis downward which can pull on the lower spine contributing to back issues. Thus stretching the hamstrings is important for back health.

During the day, if you are sitting for long periods of times, a good idea is to straighten one leg out with your heel on the floor and let the muscle lengthen for a minute before switching to the other leg. Another classic hamstring stretch while standing is to bend forward to touch your toes. Don’t spend too long in this stretch as it can place pressure on the lower spine.

Another stretch you can do after bending down to touch the floor is a gentle back bend, placing the hands on the back of the pelvis, thrusting the pelvis forward, and lifting the chest up to the sky, holding for a couple seconds before returning to a neutral standing position. 2 to 3 repetitions is a good number or perhaps more if it feels good. This gentle back bend can help relieve the lower spine from the former toe touching stretch.

There are a variety of other ways to open the hamstrings. For example, the yoga pose downward dog is a great way to stretch these muscles. You can sit on the floor and try and touch your toes, yet like the standing toe touch pose, be judicious with this stretch as it can place stress on the low back. One of the safest and easiest ways to stretch the hamstrings is lying down on the back with one straight leg trying to move toward the chest, holding the leg behind the thigh with the hands or securing a stretch strap to the foot and holding the other end with the hands. This version places some of the least stress on the lower back.

**Conclusively, the hamstrings are an important group of muscles of the lower body that play a key role in movemen**t. They affect the knees, pelvis, and lower spine, and you could even argue on a deeper level, like every other muscle in the body, that they have an effect on the entire body. Stretching the hamstrings helps to ensures full range of motion in the body during activities. Strengthening the hamstrings will help to produce efficient and stable movement. If you keep those ham…..”strings” strong and open, moving through the day may feel like you have the world on a “string”!

For any questions concerning stretching or strengthening the hamstrings contact me at KaiBodyMindWellness.com

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Why Should I Stretch My Hamstrings? What Are They? What Do They Do? The Structure And Function Of Our Hamstrings.