We are dedicated to reducing injury rates in youth athletes and increasing education in adult fitness by helping you swift through all of the non-sense floating around on the web by trainers, coaches and even some qualified medical professionals.
This series on Hamstrings is to give you an insight to some problematic areas that are typically overlooked in prevention of hamstring injuries. To start, the overlooked or ignored understanding of how the hamstring should be trained for injury prevention, increased ROM and increased performance. Secondly is the roll of the hamstring and how it is used during performance and it's ability to help in agility.
Part Two: Anterior Pelvic Tilt via Rectus Abdominis and Rectus Femoris
When we are addressing the APT in a specific population ie. athlete, we are identifying the degrees in which the pelvis is tilted forward and the availability of the hamstring length. However there are anterior muscles that contribute to this tilt and they are the Rectus Abdominis, Rectus Femoris and the Hip Flexor.
These are all muscles that cause flexion of the spine and help stabilize the pelvis. During a supine leg raise the abdominal's assist in the pelvis by flexing the spine and the Rectus Femoris assisting the Femur into flexion, raising the leg.
Problematic Issue:
We spend most of our time in the Sagittal Plane as part of natural evolution and biomechanics. Most runners train in this plane as well leaving them with additional knee and low back pain.
Athletes should be spending more time in the saggital and transverse planes when training to reflect their movements in sport and create a muscular balance.
Additional stress and resistance to the Rectus Femoris, when kicking a ball in soccer for example creates a whirlwind of problems to the Hip Flexors, Groin and Hamstrings.
As shown the Rectus Femoris inserts mid-line of the thigh attaching to the knee and pelvis. To train the quads in season, avoid bi-lateral movements such as the Back or Front Squat and substitute them for a Reverse Lunge Variation or a Box Step Up.
Stay Tuned for Next Installment of our Series!
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