Weak gluteal muscles can overload the muscles behind your thighs.
Photo: © izusek/Getty Images
The hamstrings are the unsung heroes of the upper legs. The three muscles behind each thigh enable you to bend your knees and pull your legs back while walking. They also support the gluteal muscles (or “glutes”) within the hips—the powerhouses that propel your body forward once you rise from a chair, certain across a room, or climb a flight of stairs. The glutes also allow you to stop when running or walking and lower your body to take a seat or sit.
Sitting at work.
Sitting for long periods of time weakens the glutes in two ways. There is an inactivity: the glutes have to move to remain healthy.
The second is a series response brought on by an excessive amount of sitting: the hip flexor muscles on the front of every hip contract and tighten, telling nerves to inhibit or turn off the muscles that provide the alternative movement. are ie the glutes. This phenomenon is known as reversed mutual inhibition.
Weak glutes then force the hamstrings to select up the slack and overwork the glutes. But an excessive amount of sitting may strain the hamstrings.
Overworked hamstrings
When tight hamstrings are forced to work additional time, they're prone to injury. “They get stressed out easily, especially if there's a sudden burst of energy — if you have to run after your dog or run across the street to beat a stoplight,” explains Natanson.
A muscle strain is the stretching or tearing of muscle fibers. Strains range from mild (tearing of a couple of fibers) to severe (a tear that rips all over the muscle fibers, and seems like a pop when it happens). Strained hamstrings can leave you sidelined with pain and even require surgery.
The purpose of teamwork
The best approach to protect your hamstrings is to maintain all of your leg muscles healthy and dealing together, including the glutes and quadriceps (the muscle group on the front of every thigh).
Natanson recommends getting an evaluation from a physical therapist who can assess your muscle and joint health and tailor an exercise program to your needs. “We look for balance. We look at the joints where the hamstrings attach—the knees and hips—and we look at the lower back and the ankles, to see if things are moving as they should. They should be. If there's a hardship in one area, you tax another.”
Orders of March
A hamstring strengthening program includes two approaches: targeting a single muscle group and targeting multiple muscles at the identical time. An example of an exercise for one muscle group is the hamstring curl (see “Move of the Month”).
An example of an exercise that works the glutes and hamstrings concurrently is a bridge. To do that, lie in your back along with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground, lift your hips up, hold the position for a couple of seconds, then lower your hips to the ground and repeat the exercise. Repeat.
And one other example: “Place a lightweight exercise band over your knees or ankles and step to the side, back, or forward to engage the hamstrings, glutes, and quads,” explains Natanson. Do this exercise only with supervision and the support of a close-by arm, as it might cause you to fall.
Move of the Month: Curl
Movement: Extend your right leg behind you. Bend your knee and lift your heel toward your right hip. Slowly lower your foot. Repeat 10 times, then switch legs for 10 more repetitions. |
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Getting your upper legs healthy again can take a couple of months of each day strengthening and stretching, after which a maintenance program of leg exercises a couple of times per week, says Nitinson. He also recommends taking breaks from sitting for long periods of time. “And if your muscles are healthy,” he says, “your hamstrings won't be as tight.”