Stretch your Hamstrings this festive !

 

I KNOW  you're going to be partying up a storm and dancing to Shumaya Kuzekuse THIS FESTIVE ... Your total body will be working overtime , especially your legs with all the standing , sitting , driving , DANCING ... You NEED to stretch those hams !!! 

If you're pressed for time and can't stretch all of your major muscle groups, I encourage you to at least spend a few minutes daily stretching your hamstrings. When compared to stretching any other muscle group in your body, stretching your hamstrings will likely give you the greatest overall return on your health.

What are the benefits of stretching your hamstrings? The answer lies in the anatomy and function of this three-bellied muscle group. 

If you palpate the lowermost area of your buttocks, you'll feel your sitting bones, which are called your ischial tuberosities, one on both sides of your pelvis. Your hamstrings originate from your ischial tuberosities, and travel down the entire back length of your thighs, to insert on the bones that make up your lower legs (calves). 

While sitting on a chair, reach under one knee and feel for the tendons that represent the three muscle bellies that make up your hamstrings. Towards the outside of your knee, you'll find a single tendon that allows the biceps femoris belly of your hamstrings to insert into the outside bone of your lower leg (fibula). Your biceps femoris is actually comprised of two separate heads, one long and one short, but they both come together to become this tendon that attaches to your fibula. 

Now palpate the inner aspect of the back of your knee and you'll find two tendons side by side. These tendons are what allow the other two bellies of your hamstrings - your semitendinosis and semimembranosus - to insert into the main bone of your lower leg (tibia). 

In originating from your pelvis, spanning the length of your thighs, and inserting into your lower legs, your hamstrings directly affect two of the most important weight-bearing joints in your body - your hips and your knees. 

If your hamstrings are tight as you go about your daily activities, they'll create a downward pull on your pelvis, which can lead to dysfunction of your hip, sacroiliac, and lumbar spinal joints. Around your knees, tight hamstrings can create dysfunction between your knee cap and your thigh bone (femur). Tight hamstrings can also put pressure on your patellar tendon (the tendon below your knee cap that your doctor taps to test your reflexes), which can lead to patellar tendonitis or "jumper's knee." 

Because all weight-bearing joints in your body affect one another, tight hamstrings can indirectly be responsible for dysfunction and increased risk of injury from toe to head, beginning around your ankles, and extending all the way up to your upper cervical vertebrae. When I was in full time practice, I sometimes found that people with intermittent tension headaches experienced significant improvement from regular stretching of their hamstrings. 

- Dacious 

Info : Dr. Benkim