5 Reasons You Have Tight Hamstrings

Eric Cressey recently put together his best articles from the year and this hamstring article was one of them.  He does a nice job of explaining five different reasons why our athletes/clients might have tight hamstrings.  We must remember that when assessing our clients, we have to look at the whole body of work and not just focus on the hamstrings.  Eric talks about how the client may truely have tight hamstrings but he urges us to consider other reasons why the hamstrings are tight, such as protective tension of the hamstrings due to excessive APT.  He acknowledges that injury may play a role in tight hamstrings and gives specific suggestions on ways to begin incorporating hamstring exercise back into the routine without further injuring the tissue.  Whether you are a physical therapist, athletic trainer, strength coach, or any other health care professional working with a client dealing with hamstring "tightness", consider other reasons for why they feel tight.  It goes back to the theory of the kinetic chain ripple effect which suggests that joints surrounding the primary complaint may be contributing to the impairment at hand.     

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