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The hamstrings are made up of three different muscles and are located at the back of the thigh.  These three muscle include the biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus and reach from the pelvis to just below the knee.  Because of their attachment sites the hamstrings are capable of causing movement at both the hip and knee joints.  Muscles of this type are referred to as biarticular, meaning they cross two joints.  In the case of the hamstrings, they work by causing knee flexion (bending the knee) and hip extension (moving the leg backwards with the knee straight).

When using the traditional hamstring machine at the gym (either sitting or laying on the stomach), the hamstrings contract in order to bend the knee.  The problem with such an exercise is that the hip portion of the hamstring is neglected and, thus, the hamstrings are not maximally challenged.

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One muscle group that people are constantly looking to improve are the gluteal muscles.  These muscle include, from most superficial to deepest, the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus and are the muscles that give shape to the buttock region.  As for function, they work together to propel the body forward and are involved in almost every task that involves the use of the legs including squatting, lunging, walking and running just to name a few. 

A recent study from the Journal of Sports and Orthopaedic Physical Therapy (JOSPT) used electromyography (EMG) to identify which exercises placed the greatest demand on the gluteal muscles.  The study compared a number of commonly prescribed therapeutic exercises and identified the top 3 for activating the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius.

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I think that most of us recognize that flexibility of our joints and muscles is helpful in preventing injuries and improving musculoskeletal health.  However, very few people set aside time to stretch when such a habit could greatly reduce pain levels and improve performance.

As a physical therapist, I see a variety of diagnoses throughout the day, but in reality most of these problems can be streamlined into just a few typical dysfunctional movement patterns.  keep reading, there’s more

When and how much to stretch is always a question that comes up in physical therapy.  I will usually encourage my patients to perform a dynamic warm-up prior to their regular exercise of choice and then perform static stretches after exercising. 

For those who are not familiar with these terms, a dynamic warm-up basically means you spend 10-15 minutes going through the motions of the exercise you are intending to complete, but at maybe 25-75% in order to make sure your tissue is warm.  Static stretching, on the other hand, is what most of us think of as stretching and includes holding a particular stretch position for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. 

A recent article from the Running Doc gives a good summary of current stretching recommendations that can be useful not only for runners, but for the rest of us as well.

Hey everyone,

Here is a great article from the Nutrition Data blog on the importance of cardiovascular exercise.  The article also explains a simple 1-mile walk test, which can be used to assess your own level of cardiovascular fitness.

Enjoy!