Hamstring injuries have been prevalent in athletics for years, despite this fact and emerging research, injury rates continue to climb.

There are some common misconceptions in terms of how the hamstring is trained, which ignore the tissue specific properties necessary for optimal hamstring health and performance.

There is an overemphasis on eccentric strength and range of motion, which, although important, ignore the ecological elements of the hamstring such as tissue capacity.

In order for the hamstring to be fully recovered, it must be able to properly bear the load demanded by its sport/activity.

The hamstring tends to get reinjured due to a deficiency in reactive strength. Reactive strength is a display of the stretch shortening cycle and of rate of force development.

In order for the tissue to have adequate reactive strength, the tissue needs to be able to stretch and contract rapidly.

Tissue capacity influences the efficiency of the SSC while the CNS determines rate of force development.

Muscles must be trained from the bottom up in order to prevent injury and injury that load bearing capacity and ecology is adequate while the CNS also is functioning properly.

Coach Jared

The Rack Athletic Performance Center