Hamstring strain and APT

[DeclanJ]

Hi Kit,

I have rehabbed a hamstring strain pretty well, but trying to get to the bottom of it so it doesn't happen again.

One concept I have come across is how if the body is anteriorly pelvic tilted, then the hamstrings are 'overstretched' (which im not exactly sure what this means but seen it alot) and 'inhibited' due to the insertion at the ischial tuberosity.

And that bringing the pelvis back into more neutral alignment over time, will help to put less strain on the hamstrings at baseline. 

Would love if you or anyone could let me know you/their thoughts!

Cheers

[DeclanJ]

@Kit_L would love some help please  

[Kit_L]

On 2/8/2025 at 6:25 PM, DeclanJ said:

One concept I have come across is how if the body is anteriorly pelvic tilted, then the hamstrings are 'overstretched' (which im not exactly sure what this means but seen it alot) and 'inhibited' due to the insertion at the ischial tuberosity.

Fundamentally, this is nonsense, @DeclanJ. I agree that one does see this a lot. I don't want to comment on the professions that take this line except to say that an anterior pelvic tilt is very common in our culture, and that an anteriorly tilted pelvis can inhibit the glutes, not the hamstrings. So, part of any glute activation program must include serious hip flexor work (hip flexors are the #1 cause of APT).

The only way to completely rehab. a hamstring is to make it stronger than it was in the ROM where it was strained. The single-leg Romanian deadlift is, in my experience, the best way to do this.

Perhaps you could tell us how you strained your hamstring.

[Jim Pickles]

May I add, one thing that is common in our culture is called "anterior dominance" - that is, too much activation of the muscles on the front of the body (tightness, etc, due to overuse, emotional tension and poor posture) and not enough activation of the muscles on the back of the body. The correction is to rebalance it - increase the exercises that use the muscles on the back of the body (glutes, hamstrings, back muscles - including the small stabiliser muscles of the spine, etc). I hope you agree Kit. Please let me know if you dont.

I was put on to this when two of my students had reported pulled hamstrings from doing very simple things, and got me reading up why it might have happened. After that, my classes always included exercises for activating the posterior muscular chains of the body.

Jim.

[nick_kuchedav]

On 2/13/2025 at 1:01 AM, Kit_L said:

The single-leg Romanian deadlift is, in my experience, the best way to do this.

Sensei, this makes me wonder—have you done these heavy? Do you have a video of your favorite version of the exercise?

[Kit_L]

Dear Nick!

I have done the two-leg version with 140kg for five in the 'old days'.

The single-leg version, though, is a different beast—the proportional requirements between balance, ROM, and strength are very different in the single-leg version. In the two-leg version, strength is the requirement—nothing else plays much of a role.

If I recall correctly, by the time I got to doing singles with the 16kg KB, I could feel that everything was A-OK. And all the other things I was doing at the time supported this: the problem was solved.

I don't have a video of me doing these, but my back was perfectly straight and I only moved at the hip. The non-working leg was off the ground, and held under me, so the lightest weights had significant leverage, especially high up in the hamstring under the glute, which is where the injury used to be.

 

[Matt Chung]

>  May I add, one thing that is common in our culture is called "anterior dominance" - that is, too much activation of the muscles on the front of the body (tightness, etc, due to overuse, emotional tension and poor posture) and not enough activation of the muscles on the back of the body. The correction is to rebalance it - increase the exercises that use the muscles on the back of the body (glutes, hamstrings, back muscles - including the small stabiliser muscles of the spine, etc). I hope you agree Kit. Please let me know if you dont.

Hey @Jim Pickles would you be able to share some of those exercises? In particular, the back muscles / small stabiliser muscles of the spine? I'm curious what you are referring to and I may or may not already be incorporating them into my exercises and if not, would want to consider it.

On the comment of "anterior dominance" ... last year in London, I took a handful of in person Yamana body rolling glasses and the instructor (lovely by the way, very knowledgeable and kind) more or less echoed the same sentiment, that we tend to over utilize the anterior chain and under utilize the poster chain. One of the exercises (extremely uncomfortable at first) was aimed to loosen up my abs and at the end of the exercise, she stated she had observably noticed that I was holding less tension in my anterior chain, that I was standing more upright.

Reflecting on my stretching and flexibility journey this last year, one thing I realize is that often do not engage glutes, hamstrings unless I'm intentional. And the more aware I become of their lack of use, the more I am able to use them.

[Kit_L]

@Matt Chung: the single leg Romanian dead-lift does all this, and more.

See here (around 09:00):

Back perfectly straight, using whole posterior chain. Hips level (this really makes the outer hamstring work). Bare feet, as he mentions. And keep non-working leg under you as much as you can. Most YT versions of this exercise show the non-working leg held straight out behind, in line with the trunk (so resembling the gymnastic exercise called the scale, or what we call the "T-pose"; this can be found on p. 190 of Stretching & Flexibility.) This is a good exercise too, but the straight leg out behind you is unloading the working leg (it is counterbalancing the weight of the upper body).

But for strengthening the posterior chain, the version shown above, and weighted (2kg will be enough to start), is truly excellent IF the correct form is followed.

[Jim Pickles]

@Matt Chung: as far as hamstring and glute exercises are concerned, there are a lot in the ST program, and lots you can find on Youtube. As for spine, one is the arch body hold - if you go into it in stages as described in Kit and Olivia's videos then you will get more detailed activation of different groups of back muscles - but still the big ones. As for the others, which I presume is the point of your question, I discovered these when exploring my spinal flexibility - which once was a lot better than it is now. In an exercise like standing upright, arms overhead, slowly going into a deep backbend (maybe hands hovering just above the ground, or touching the ground) and then slowly coming back up again, if you take care and concentrate, you can feel the different groups of muscles coming in to support you in the different phases of that movement. I dont have this flexibility now, but can still selectively activate the different groups of muscles. Also, if you can do it, try a forearm stand with a deep backbend, and go into it slowly and come out slowly, with full awareness, and you will feel the different muscles.

[Kit_L]

This is one of the best tutorials you'll ever watch:

And if all the cues are followed, all of the posterior chain muscles (including the glutes and hamstrings, and all the large and small spinal muscles @Jim Pickles mentions can be felt, and isolated if necessary. For me personally, for the middle and upper back, I found that lifting the chest forward along the floor cue to be extremely effective – just do it incrementally.

[DeclanJ]

Thanks so much everyone!

I've done some of this RDL work before but looks like a good time to get back into it!