At Ground Force Strength and Conditioning Training Systems, we are committed to reducing injury rates in youth athletes while also providing clear, science-backed guidance for adults navigating fitness information online. We aim to cut through the noise and misinformation that can often mislead athletes and enthusiasts alike.
This includes educating on often overlooked aspects of sports performance and injury prevention—particularly when it comes to essential muscle groups like the hamstrings.
This series will dive deep into hamstring health, emphasizing prevention strategies for common injuries, improving flexibility and range of motion (ROM), and optimizing performance.
By better understanding the hamstring’s specific functions and unique demands in sports performance, athletes, coaches, and parents can ensure a proactive approach to health and longevity on the field.
Series One: Function and Performance of the Hamstring
To start, let’s look at the critical role of the hamstring in athletic performance. The hamstring muscle group is instrumental in many movements fundamental to sports, including knee flexion, hip extension, and agility. Its primary function is to flex the knee and extend the hip, actions involved in running, jumping, kicking, and absorbing ground reaction forces—tasks essential for sports performance.
Additionally, the hamstrings play a stabilizing role, helping secure the hip and knee joints during acceleration and deceleration phases of movement.
Proper hamstring function is foundational for agility and dynamic strength. When sprinting, for instance, the hamstring not only pulls the femur back, extending the hip, but also helps stabilize the knee joint to control forward motion.
This powerful movement is crucial not only for speed but for safe, controlled deceleration, a factor essential in preventing injuries. For athletes in soccer, football, and other high-speed sports, strong hamstrings can make a significant difference in acceleration, change of direction, and maintaining stability through rapid movements.
First Key Issue: Pelvic Positioning and Its Impact on the Hamstring
A common, yet often overlooked, factor contributing to hamstring strain and injury is the positioning of the pelvis. The hamstring’s function and length are heavily influenced by pelvic positioning, especially when the pelvis is in an anterior tilt.
An anterior pelvic tilt, often seen in athletes with overactive anterior muscle groups, shifts the pelvis forward, altering hamstring mechanics.
Muscles like the Tensor Fasciae Latae (TFL), Rectus Femoris, and the adductor complex frequently become dominant due to overuse or poor movement patterns.
This dominance can contribute to the forward tilt of the pelvis, putting the hamstrings in a chronically lengthened, stressed position. Over time, this position reduces the hamstring’s efficiency and resilience, increasing susceptibility to strains and even chronic injury.
Training the Hamstring for Injury Prevention and Performance
To mitigate these issues, it’s essential to train the hamstrings in a way that promotes optimal function, flexibility, and power.
Rather than focusing solely on isolated strengthening exercises, injury prevention requires a multi-faceted approach that incorporates dynamic stabilization, eccentric loading, and proper hip and knee mechanics.
For example, eccentric exercises like the Nordic hamstring curl can enhance the hamstring’s ability to absorb force, a critical component in reducing strain risk.
This first series will explore the unique demands placed on the hamstring in sport, the influence of pelvic positioning, and how to train the hamstrings in a balanced and functional way.
Increasing force absorption
Deceleration is a highly demanding task that places a significant load on the hamstrings, especially in sports requiring frequent stopping, turning, or sudden changes in direction. When an athlete decelerates, the hamstrings play a crucial role in stabilizing and slowing the forward momentum of the body.
This action occurs primarily through eccentric contraction, where the muscle lengthens under tension. Eccentric contractions are challenging for the muscle but highly effective at absorbing and controlling force. However, without proper training, these eccentric forces can increase the risk of strain or injury, especially in high-speed sports like soccer, basketball, and football.
The hamstrings, in deceleration, act to protect the knee joint by controlling the rate at which the leg slows down. This process stabilizes the knee and prevents forward tibial translation, where the shinbone moves excessively forward relative to the thigh bone.
Over time, repeated eccentric loading without adequate preparation or strength in the hamstrings can lead to wear and tear, making them vulnerable to strains or, in severe cases, complete ruptures.
Evidence-Based Insights on Deceleration and Hamstring Strain
A 2021 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that athletes who frequently perform high-intensity decelerations experience a significantly higher eccentric load on the hamstrings compared to other muscle groups, which requires specific training to mitigate the risk of injury (Eagles, et al., 2021). This study suggests incorporating eccentric hamstring exercises, like Nordic hamstring curls and single-leg Romanian deadlifts, which train the hamstrings to withstand these unique demands.
Another study from Sports Medicine highlights the importance of training athletes in deceleration-specific drills to improve hamstring resilience and injury prevention (Opar, et al., 2015). The study recommends a blend of strength and neuromuscular training to condition the hamstrings for deceleration, which can be particularly beneficial in sports involving rapid changes in direction.
Incorporating these principles into training for youth athletes can improve not only hamstring resilience but also overall performance. As we continue this series on hamstring health, these studies underscore the need for a tailored approach that addresses both concentric (shortening) and eccentric (lengthening) contractions to prepare athletes for the full spectrum of movement demands in sport.
Subscribe for part two of the updates series, "It's Not your Hamstrings"
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